The potential of epigenetic compounds in treating diabetes

Globally, diabetes (and in particular type 2 diabetes) continues to represent a major health challenge worldwide. Despite our efforts, our understanding of the genetic and environmental events underpinning diabetes pathogenesis remains poor. Altered epigenetics has, however, been strongly associated with many aspects critical to diabetes pathogenesis, and our increased understanding in this area has resulted in the identification of several compounds with therapeutic potential in diabetes. This chapter outlines how targeting epigenetics may have significant potential benefits in the treatment of this condition.