Incretin-the new therapeutic target of sepsis

An article entitled " Therapeutic Effects of Endogenous Icretin Hormones and Exogenous Incretin-Based Medications in Sepsis" was published in November 2019 in JCEM[Faraaz AS, Hussain M, Teresa GM, et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2019, 104(11): 5274-5284]. We translated this article into Chinese after obtaining the copyright from the journal. Sepsis is currently defined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a host′s dysregulation of infection which can increase the risk of organ dysfunction and death if combined with abnormal blood glucose. For that reason, the authors believe that there is a need to find new targets for the treatment of sepsis and maintenance of blood glucose homeostasis. Incretin can regulate various functions, including islet hormone secretion, blood glucose concentration, lipid metabolism, intestinal motility, appetite, body weight, immune function, and so on. Nowadays the research on incretin in sepsis is still limited. The authors utilized the medical keywords " incretin" , " glucagon-like peptide-1" , " gastric inhibitory peptide" , " inflammation" and " sepsis" for Pubmed search in this small retrospective study. The results of preclinical research models and clinical trials suggest that incretin-based therapies can improve immune function, control blood glucose effectively and reduce the incidence and mortality of organ dysfunction. However, the authors believe that further clinical studies are still needed to observe the effects of incretin on sepsis. In summary, there is probably a way to maintain blood glucose homeostasis while reducing inflammation and improving clinical outcomes if the incretin hormone axis in sepsis is brought to attention. Key words: Sepsis; Incretin