Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 6, 2024; 12(1): 1-8
Published online Jan 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i1.1
Gut-targeted therapies for type 2 diabetes mellitus: A review
Tian-Cheng Xu, Yun Liu, Zhi Yu, Bin Xu
Tian-Cheng Xu, Yun Liu, Zhi Yu, Bin Xu, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Tian-Cheng Xu and Yun Liu.
Co-corresponding authors: Zhi Yu and Bin Xu.
Author contributions: Yu Z and Xu B conceptualized and designed the research; Xu TC and Liu Y wrote the paper. Xu TC searched the literature, revised and submitted the early version of the manuscript with the focus on gut-targeted therapies for type 2 diabetes mellitus; Xu TC and Liu Y collaborated closely on basic research related to this review, which inspired the writing of this review; Both authors have made crucial and indispensable contributions towards the completion of the project and thus qualified as the co-first authors of the paper; Yu Z and Xu B have played important and indispensable roles in the data interpretation and manuscript preparation as the co-corresponding authors; All the authors contributed to the initial writing and have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82074532, No. 82305376, and No. 81873238; the Open Projects of the Discipline of Chinese Medicine of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine supported by the Subject of Academic Priority Discipline of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, No. ZYX03KF012; and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province, No. KYCX22_1963.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bin Xu, MD, PhD, Director, Professor, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China. xubin@njucm.edu.cn
Received: August 27, 2023
Peer-review started: August 27, 2023
First decision: November 14, 2023
Revised: November 24, 2023
Accepted: December 18, 2023
Article in press: December 18, 2023
Published online: January 6, 2024
Processing time: 128 Days and 1.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Gut-targeted therapies, such as probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation, have shown potential for improving glycemic control and insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. However, further research is needed to determine the optimal dose, duration, and safety of these therapies. Although many invention patents have been formed and put into clinical practice for the treatment of hypoglycemia targeting the intestine, the increasing results of basic research still mean greater room for progress.