REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Inflammation Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1675552
This article is part of the Research TopicUnraveling the Gut: The Crucial Dance Between Microbiota and Mucus in Health and DiseaseView all 3 articles
GLP-1 receptor agonists: exploration of transformation from metabolic regulation to multi-organ therapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Emergency Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- 2Faculty of Life science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- 3Kunming University of Science and Technology School of Life Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- 4The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), initially developed for type 2 diabetes and obesity, have evolved into multi-organ potential therapeutics due to their pleiotropic effects beyond glycemic control. Mechanistically, GLP-1 signaling modulates immune and inflammatory pathways, regulates autophagy and pyroptosis, alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress, and interacts with the gut microbiome. These pleiotropic effects provide a rationale for exploring their role in multiple organ systems.Clinical trials have demonstrated cardiovascular and renal protection, leading to additional approvals in high-risk populations. Early data also suggest potential benefits in liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic respiratory disorders, neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions, reproductive dysfunction, obesity-associated cancers, and sepsis, although these remain investigational. Therefore, this review aims to synthesize the evidence on the mechanistic expansion of GLP-1RAs from metabolic regulators to systemic modulators of inflammation, autophagy, and organ protection, and explores their therapeutic repurposing across diseases.
Keywords: GLP-1 receptor agonist, Molecular mechanisms, Gut Microbiota, multi-organ protection, therapeutic repurposing
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gong, Li, Shi, Wang, Dai, Chen and Su. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guobing Chen, The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
Heng Su, The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.