A Review on Therapeutic Effects of Humanin, a New Peptide in Treatment of Type II Diabetes

Type II diabetes is an increasing epidemic disease. Routine treatments of lowering glucose level and insulin enhancers-based therapies are options whether not clear they can put a stop on progress of the disease. New potential therapeutic goals are recognized and new compounds are being produced that they can decrease the blood sugar with the lowest risk of hypoglycemia and obesity and they can also protect the β-cell mass and increase their function. Humanin (HN) is a mitochondrial-derived peptide with 24 amino acids. Since the level of HN decline with age, it causes cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease and so on. The effectiveness of humanin in improving the function of insulin could be a new therapeutic method in diabetes type II. As humanin inhibits IGFBP-3 it plays a more effective role in function of insulin, so that it can be a target of manufacturing drugs. Thus the aim of this study is to review the in vivo function of humanin and its mechanism of action in improvement of type II diabetes therapeutic manner. We searched Pubmed, Scopus, Ovid, Proquest and Magiran with the terms such as: humanin peptide, diabetes mellitus, type II diabetes, and hyperglycemia. The search covered 1997 until 2014. Among 45 searched articles, 38 references were studied. The results of the study show that HN represses the apoptosis and prevents cells from oxidative stress. Increasing insulin secretion, glucose metabolism and finally lowering the blood sugar are also the other features of HN. It seems HN has beneficial in vivo and in vitro effects. The discovery of this peptide could be a new therapeutic method in order to improve the status of type II diabetic patients. But further studies according to sex, age, genetics and the drug dosage is needed to uncover the gaps about its safety and effectiveness.