Decoding insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome for promising therapeutic intervention

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome, also known as insulin resistance syndrome, has become a major public health problem worldwide. It consists of obesity, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Metabolic syndrome is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, which currently afflicts 22 million Americans and over 100 million Chinese (Alberti et al. 2005 Importantly, metabolic syndrome is also a significant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease, and two-thirds of patients with diabetes mellitus die of heart failure In 2011, an estimated 366 million people around the world had diabetes, and this number is predicted to rise to 522 million by 2030 The estimated costs of diagnosed diabetes in the USA have risen from $174 billion in 2007 to $245 billion in 2012 (Herman 2013). Obviously, understanding and controlling metabolic syndrome and associated cardiovascular disorders have far-reaching impacts on our healthcare and economic systems that affect the quality of our daily life.