Byetta may be used as anti-inflammatory

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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 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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