C‐peptide as a therapy for type 1 diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex metabolic disease affecting one‐third of the United States population. It is characterized by hyperglycemia, where the hormone insulin is either not produced sufficiently or where there is a resistance to insulin. Patients with Type 1 DM (T1DM), in which the insulin‐producing beta cells are destroyed by autoimmune mechanisms, have a significantly increased risk of developing life‐threatening cardiovascular complications, even when exogenous insulin is administered. In fact, due to various factors such as limited blood glucose measurements and timing of insulin administration, only 37% of T1DM adults achieve normoglycemia. Furthermore, T1DM patients do not produce C‐peptide, a cleavage product from insulin processing. C‐ peptide has potential therapeutic effects in vitro and in vivo on many complications of T1DM, such as peripheral neuropathy, atherosclerosis, and inflammation. Thus, delivery of C‐peptide in conjunction with insulin through a pump, pancreatic islet transplantation, or genetically engineered Sertoli cells (an immune privileged cell type) may ameliorate many of the cardiovascular and vascular complications afflicting T1DM patients.