Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2014. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Feb 15, 2015; 6(1): 109-124
Published online Feb 15, 2015. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i1.109
β-cell dysfunction: Its critical role in prevention and management of type 2 diabetes
Yoshifumi Saisho
Yoshifumi Saisho, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Author contributions: Saisho Y solely contributed to this work.
Conflict-of-interest: The author declares that he has no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yoshifumi Saisho, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. ysaisho@z5.keio.jp
Telephone: +81-3-33531211 Fax: +81-3-33592745
Received: July 23, 2014
Peer-review started: July 24, 2014
First decision: August 15, 2014
Revised: August 17, 2014
Accepted: November 27, 2014
Article in press: December 1, 2014
Published online: February 15, 2015
Processing time: 191 Days and 17.5 Hours
Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by insulin resistance and β-cell dysfunction. Although, in contrast to type 1 diabetes, insulin resistance is assumed to be a major pathophysiological feature of T2DM, T2DM never develops unless β-cells fail to compensate insulin resistance. Recent studies have revealed that a deficit of β-cell functional mass is an essential component of the pathophysiology of T2DM, implying that β-cell deficit is a common feature of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. β-cell dysfunction is present at the diagnosis of T2DM and progressively worsens with disease duration. β-cell dysfunction is associated with worsening of glycemic control and treatment failure; thus, it is important to preserve or recover β-cell functional mass in the management of T2DM. Since β-cell regenerative capacity appears somewhat limited in humans, reducing β-cell workload appears to be the most effective way to preserve β-cell functional mass to date, underpinning the importance of lifestyle modification and weight loss for the treatment and prevention of T2DM. This review summarizes the current knowledge on β-cell functional mass in T2DM and discusses the treatment strategy for T2DM.

Keywords: β-cell; Insulin secretion; Type 2 diabetes; Prevention; Treatment

Core tip: Recent studies have revealed that a deficit of β-cell functional mass is an essential component of the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). β-cell dysfunction is present at the diagnosis of T2DM and progressively worsens with disease duration. β-cell dysfunction is associated with worsening of glycemic control and treatment failure; thus, it is important to preserve or recover β-cell functional mass in the management of T2DM. This review summarizes the current knowledge on β-cell functional mass in T2DM and discusses the treatment strategy for T2DM.