Boron-containing compounds as labels, drugs, and theranostic agents for diabetes and its complications

Table 1 Boron-containing compounds exert effects similar to those described for drugs currently used as therapy in diabetes patients

Type of drug	Example in use	BCC acting in a similar or related way	Ref.
Biguanides	Metformin	Boron-containing biguanides have been synthesized and some have shown biological effects. Some BCC is being used in biomaterials for metformin release	Anderson et al[59], 1995; Ghosh et al[60], 1998; Lai et al[61], 2023
GLP-1 receptor agonist	Exenatide	No BCC has been designed with a structural analogy to known GLP-1 agonists. However, some BCC seems to be able to modify the incretins serum levels	Das et al[9], 2022; Ri et al[7], 2023
DPP-IV inhibitors	Sitagliptin	Dutogliptin, talabostat, PC06R58, and PC06R108 are potent uncompetitive DPP-IV inhibitors	Wu et al[55], 2021; Prajapati et al[62], 2024
SGLT2 inhibitors	Dapagliflozin	DX-B-DA, a fluorophore-dapagliflozin dyad has been tested as theranostic agent. It can bind the SGLT2	Yu et al[63], 2021
Sulfonylureas	Glibenclamide	Glibenclamide-BCC acts as a high-affinity blocker of pancreatic β-cell KATP currents. Non-specific binding limited its use	Zünkler et al[64], 2004
α-glucosidase inhibitor	Acarbose	Some azaborininones exhibit moderate to good inhibitory effects against glucosidase to acarbose used as a reference standard	Mphahlele et al[65], 2021
Insulin	Insulin	Several BCC result in changes in insulin serum concentrations. Boric acid and phenylboronic acids diminish the increase of insulin release (and the total weight of visceral fat) in rats exposed to a high-fat diet and streptozotocin. The insulin release could be controlled by complexes with boronic acids	López-Cabrera et al[42], 2018; Banach et al[21], 2021; Kikuchi et al[66], 2021

GLP-1: Glucagon-like peptide; CPP-IV: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4; SGLT2: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2; BCC: Boron-containing compound.