Effects of Saxagliptin on Endothelial Function (ESENDI)

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease with a growing prevalence worldwide, affecting 171 million people in 2000 and an expected 366 million people in 2030 [1].. Currently available therapies for type 2 diabetes have various limitations and are associated with increased risk of hypoglycemia, weight gain, gastrointestinal side effects or edema and heart failure.

A new and promising class of drugs are the gliptins. Gliptins act by inhibiting the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), which is responsible for the rapid inactivation of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) - an incretin hormone of the gut [2-4], thereby enhancing and prolonging the effects of GLP-1. GLP-1 - member of the incretin hormones - is released into the blood after meal ingestion and stimulates the insulin secretion in a glucose dependent manner. This accounts for the marked prandial insulin response, which prevents prandial hyperglycemia. Several efficacy studies demonstrated a significant improvement of HbA1c with gliptins. In addition, gliptins improved fasting as well as prandial glucose levels and did not induce weight gain. Due to these positive metabolic effects in combination with a very small spectrum of side effects gliptins might very well be part of the standard therapy for type 2 diabetes in the future.

Apart form surrogate parameters like reduction of fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels or improvement of HbA1c, the effect of gliptins on micro- and macrovascular function and cardiovascular outcome has not been the primary focus of current studies. However, infusion of GLP-1, the incretin hormone affected by gliptins has been reported to ameliorate endothelial dysfunction in patients suffering from coronary artery disease [5] and it was recently shown that infusion of GLP-1 into healthy human subjects increases both normal and ACh-induced vasodilatation [6]. In studies on rats with diabetes, GLP-1 infusion nearly re-established their normal vascular tone [7] and there are further data from experimental animals that indicate a beneficial effect of GLP-1 on endothelial function [8].

Diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with microangiopathy and macroangiopathy and is a strong independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular mortality [9]. Endothelial dysfunction which plays a crucial role in the atherosclerotic process is commonly observed in patients with diabetes mellitus and already prediabetes and has - amongst other factors - been linked to fasting and postprandial hyperglycemia. Taken into account that gliptins reduce hyperglycemia and hyperglycemic peaks by preventing inactivation of GLP-1, which exerted beneficial effects on the endothelium in previous studies it is of major interest whether therapy with gliptins improves endothelial function of the micro- and macrovasculature and thereby might prove to affect cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients in the long term. The retina offers the unique opportunity to directly visualize and investigate the microvasculature in vivo [10-14].

References

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