Potential therapeutic targets for the prevention of diabetic nephropathy: Glycyrrhetinic acid

Abstract

Uncontrolled hyperglycemia or poorly managed disease increases the propensity for a number of diabetes-related complications targeting major organs including the heart, eyes, and kidney. Although the mechanisms by which diabetes induces cardiovascular diseases include oxidative stress and inflammation, when insulin resistance remains the key to the pathogenesis, as implicated in the two reviews in this issue. This editorial mainly comments on the potential preventive application of glycyrrhetinic acid (or 18β-GA) in relation to diabetic nephropathy. The thera-peutic or preventive effects of 18β-GA, as a hydrolytic product of glycyrrhizic acid that is a component of licorice, have been appreciated in other disorders, but have received much less attention in relation to diabetic complications. A study in this issue has identified 18β-GA as a therapeutic for preventing diabetic nephropathy and provides evidence to support efficacy in cultured human renal tubule cells in vitro. Although it represents a pilot study, the observations support a new therapeutic approach that warrants further ex-ploration.

Keywords: Chinese herbal remedy; Diabetic cardiomyopathy; Diabetic nephropathy; Glycyrrhetinic acid; Insulin resistance; Licorice.

Figure 1

Summary of the beneficial effects of glycyrrhetinic acid family members. The left panel summarizes the well-known beneficial effects based on several reviews cited in this editorial publication[8-10]. The right panel of this figure as a small part of total research on provides the limited publications that showed the certain protective effects on metabolic syndrome, hyperglycemia, and potential diabetic complications. GA: Glycyrrhetinic acid.