More News About NUCB2/Nesfatin-1: A New Factor in the Hypothalamic Control of Glucose Homeostasis?

Insulin resistance and declining insulin productiondefine a spectrum of metabolic diseases afflictinga growing portion of the population (1). Current esti-mates suggest that 26 million Americans have diabetes, with the incidence of type 2 diabetes involving insulin re-sistance and b-cell decompensation far exceeding that of type 1 diabetes. Treatment of type 2 diabetes involves se-cretagogues that increase insulin secretion and insulin sensi-tizers to improve insulin receptor (INSR) action (and likely include other effects on glucose production) (1). These drugs exhibit a short duration of efficacy in many patients and of-ten require a multidrug approach as the disease progresses and insulin injections when other treatment options fail. A clear need exists for continued research aimed at developing more effective strategies for maintaining glycemic control. In this issue, Yang et al. (2) report that intracerebroven-tricular (ICV) infusion of nesfastin-1 improves glucose homeostasis in diet-induced obese rats by inhibiting he