Induction of intestinal epithelial proliferation by glucagon-like peptide 2.

DJ Drucker, P Erlich, SL Asa… - Proceedings of the …, 1996 - National Acad Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1996National Acad Sciences
Injury, inflammation, or resection of the small intestine results in severe compromise of
intestinal function. Nevertheless, therapeutic strategies for enhancing growth and repair of
the intestinal mucosal epithelium are currently not available. We demonstrate that nude mice
bearing subcutaneous proglucagon-producing tumors exhibit marked proliferation of the
small intestinal epithelium. The factor responsible for inducing intestinal proliferation was
identified as glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), a 33-aa peptide with no previously ascribed …
Injury, inflammation, or resection of the small intestine results in severe compromise of intestinal function. Nevertheless, therapeutic strategies for enhancing growth and repair of the intestinal mucosal epithelium are currently not available. We demonstrate that nude mice bearing subcutaneous proglucagon-producing tumors exhibit marked proliferation of the small intestinal epithelium. The factor responsible for inducing intestinal proliferation was identified as glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), a 33-aa peptide with no previously ascribed biological function. GLP-2 stimulated crypt cell proliferation and consistently induced a marked increase in bowel weight and villus growth of the jejunum and ileum that was evident within 4 days after initiation of GLP-2 administration. These observations define a novel biological role for GLP-2 as an intestinal-derived peptide stimulator of small bowel epithelial proliferation.
National Acad Sciences