Plant compounds for the treatment of diabetes, a metabolic disorder: NF-κB as therapeutic target

Background: The prevalence of diabetes in the world population has reached 8.8 % and is expected to rise to 10.4% by 2040. Hence, there is an urgent need for the discovery of drugs against therapeutic targets to sojourn its prevalence. Previous studies proved that NF-κB serves as central agent in the development of diabetic complications.

Objectives: This review intended to list the natural plant compounds that would act as inhibitors of NF-κB signalling in different organs under diabetic condition with their possible mechanism of action.

Methods: Information on NF-κB, diabetes, natural products and relation in between them was gathered from scientific literature databases such as Pubmed, Medline, Google scholar, Science direct, Springer, Wiley online library.

Results and conclusion: NF-κB plays a crucial role in the development of diabetic complications because of its link in expression of genes that are responsible for organs damage such as kidney, brain, eye, liver, heart, muscle, endothelium, adipose tissue and pancreas by inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress. Activation of PPAR-α, SIRT3/1, and FXR through many cascades by plant compounds such as terpenoids, iridoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, tannins, carbohydrates, and phyto cannabinoids recover the diabetic complications. These compounds also exhibit prevention of NF-κB translocation into nucleus by inhibiting NF-κB activators such as VEGFR, RAGE and TLR4 receptors which in turn prevent the activation of many genes involved in tissue damage. Current knowledge on the treatment of diabetes by targeting NF-κB is limited, so future studies would enlighten accordingly.