Abstract

Type 2 diabetes, lowly responsive to insulin injection, is a difficult chronic disease which requires therapeutic breakthroughs. Herein, a new concept is proposed to remotely control the glucose metabolism by a near-infrared (NIR) laser for the treatment of type 2 diabetes for the first time. This method integrates fluorescent upconversion nanoparticles with the optogenetic technique to selectively activate the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT signaling pathways, in an insulin-independent manner for type 2 diabetic treatments. It features fast responsiveness (in seconds) to NIR, deep tissue penetration (up to centimeters), and tunable dosage by adjusting laser irradiation. Successful glucose metabolic regulation has been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, thus offering the possibility of developing new alternative strategies to meet the clinical challenges in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.