The Role of Heat Shock Response in Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

The expansion of life-style related diseases, such as metabolic syndrome (MS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), appears to be unstoppable. It is also difficult to cease their complications in spite of many antidiabetic medications or intervention of public administration. We and our collaborators found that physical medicine using simultaneous stimulation of heat with mild electric current activates heat shock response, thereby reducing visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation and improving glucose homeostasis in mice models of T2DM, as well as in humans with MS or T2DM. This combination therapy exerts novel action on insulin signaling, β-cell protection and body compositions, and may provide a new therapeutic alternative in diabetic treatment strategy.