Type 2 diabetes mellitus: limitations of conventional therapies and intervention with nucleic acid-based therapeutics

Abstract

Limitations of conventional therapies and intervention with nucleic acid-based therapeutics in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are discussed. A compounding factor with existing oral hypoglycemic agent use is that they are limited in their efficacy and suffer from an adverse effect profile that severely impacts patient compliance. Nucleic acid-based therapeutics is gaining significant interest and momentum as an alternative mode of therapy, paving the way toward targeted treatment strategies that aim to 'switch-off' expression of the causative gene(s) that promotes hyperglycemia specifically, with the primary objective of ameliorating the symptoms and so the clinical consequences of T2DM