Publication: Sortilin in Glucose Homeostasis: From Accessory Protein to Key Player?

About

The pharmacological properties and physiological roles of the type I receptor sortelin, also called neurotensin receptor-3, are various and complex. Sortilin is involved in important biological functions from neurotensin and pro-Nerve Growth Factor signaling in the central nervous system to regulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis in the periphery. The peripheral functions of sortelin being less extensively addressed, the focus of the current review is to discuss recent works describing sortelin-induced molecular mechanisms regulating blood glucose homeostasis and insulin signaling. Thus, an overview of several roles ascribed to sortelin in diabetes and other metabolic diseases are presented. Investigations on crucial cellular pathways involved in the protective effect of sortelin receptor on beta cells, including recent discoveries about regulation of cell fate, are also detailed. In addition, we provide a special focus on insulin secretion regulation involving complexes between sortelin and neurotensin receptors. The last section comments on the future research areas which should be developed to address the function of new effectors of the sortelin system in the endocrine apparatus.