[acb-diabetics] Byetta can be used as an anti-inflammatory

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

Common Diabetes Drug Found to Have Powerful Anti-Inflamatory Effect


2-Nov-2011

November 2011 - Exenatide, a drug commonly prescribed to help patients with
type 2 diabetes improve blood sugar control, also has a powerful and rapid
anti-inflammatory effect, a University at Buffalo study has shown.

The study of the drug, marketed under the trade name Byetta, was published
recently in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

"Our most important finding was this rapid, anti-inflammatory effect, which
may lead to the inhibition of atherosclerosis, the major cause of heart
attacks, strokes and gangrene in diabetics," says Paresh Dandona, MD, UB
Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine, UB School of Medicine
and Biomedical Sciences, and senior author.

It was especially noteworthy that this anti-inflammatory effect occurred
independently of weight loss over the 12-week study period, he adds.

"The fact that the drug caused this dramatic and comprehensive
anti-inflammatory effect independent of weight loss shows that it is a
primary action of the drug and is not dependent upon weight loss," says Ajay
Chaudhuri, MD, associate professor of medicine at UB and lead author.

He explains that, since obesity is an inflammatory state and adipose tissue
contributes to inflammation, weight loss on its own can lead to an
anti-inflammatory effect.

"Even more importantly, a short-lived anti-inflammatory effect was observed
within two hours following a single injection of 5 micrograms of the drug,"
Chaudhuri continues. "This coincides with the peak concentration of the drug
after the injection. Such a rapid and dramatic effect is rare."

"Apart from corticosteroids, which are known anti-inflammatory drugs, and
insulin, no other drug demonstrates such a powerful and rapid
anti-inflammatory effect," adds Dandona.

As a result, he and his colleagues at UB plan to study how exenatide might
be used in acute inflammatory settings in the intensive care unit or
following heart attacks and strokes, where a rapid anti-inflammatory effect
is required and such drugs may be of potential use.

In addition to the anti-inflammatory effect, participants also exhibited a
drop in the measurement of average blood sugar levels over three months,
called hemoglobin A1C, from 8.6 percent to 7.4 percent.

The study involved 24 obese type 2 diabetics who were already on insulin to
control their glucose levels.

The current study was undertaken based on previous observations published in
2007 by the UB researchers that exenatide indicated an anti-inflammatory
effect, reducing plasma C-reactive protein levels, triglycerides and
systolic blood pressure.

Co-authors with Chaudhuri and Dandona are Mehul Vora, MD, clinical assistant
instructor of medicine; Husam Ghanim, PhD, research assistant professor of
medicine; Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, and Antoine Makdissi, MD, both assistant
professors of medicine; and Chang Ling Sia and Kelly Korzeniewski, research
assistants in the UB Department of Medicine, all of the Division of
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism of UB and Kaleida Health. The study
was supported by a grant from the Amylin Corporation and Eli-Lilly. 

Source: University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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