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Metabolic disease

Macrophage vesicles in antidiabetic drug action

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are potent insulin-sensitizing drugs, but their use is accompanied by adverse side-effects. Rohm et al. now report that TZD-stimulated macrophages release miR-690-containing vesicles that improve insulin sensitization and bypass unwanted side-effects.

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Fig. 1: TZDs induce the production of insulin-sensitizing extracellular vesicles by macrophages.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding from ZonMw and the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation to R.S. and from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) programme for translational research, and Diabetes Fonds (project number 95105007) to E.K.

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Correspondence to Eric Kalkhoven.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Stienstra, R., Kalkhoven, E. Macrophage vesicles in antidiabetic drug action. Nat Metab (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01030-x

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