Placental peptides regulating islet adaptation to pregnancy: clinical potential in gestational diabetes mellitus

Pregnancy involves a progressive increase in insulin resistance and the β-cells must adapt to compensate and prevent gestational diabetes (GDM). In this review we discuss the evidence for placental peptides, including placental lactogen, hepatocyte growth factor, adiponectin and leptin, playing a role in the islet adaptation to pregnancy. The difficulties of translating data from rodent models into human pregnancy are covered and we summarise...