Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Aug 9:13:2769-2776.
doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S208327. eCollection 2019.

Effects of acarbose and metformin on the inflammatory state in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients: a one-year randomized clinical study

Dan Mo  1 , Songfang Liu  1 , Hong Ma  1 , Haoming Tian  1 , Honglin Yu  2 , Xiangxun Zhang  2 , Nanwei Tong  2 , Jiayu Liao  3   4 , Yan Ren  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of acarbose and metformin on the inflammatory state in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients: a one-year randomized clinical study

Dan Mo et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. .

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the changes in inflammatory biomarkers between newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients under one-year acarbose treatments and those under metformin managements.

Methods: Seventy patients with newly diagnosed T2DM and 32 volunteers with normal glucose tolerance (normal controls, NCs) were enrolled. Seventy patients with T2DM were randomly assigned to two subgroups and treated with acarbose (n=34) or metformin (n=36) for 1 year. Blood glucose, insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and inflammatory biomarker levels (interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and ferritin) were detected at 0, 6 and 12 months.

Results: After adjusting for sex, the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI), higher fasting plasma glucose (FPG), standard meal test 1/2 hr and 2 hr glucose, TG, TC, LDL-C, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-2 and ferritin levels were observed in T2DM group than in NCs (P<0.05). After 6 months of treatment, TNF-α levels were significantly decreased in both subgroups, and IL-6 and ferritin levels were significantly decreased after 12 months (P<0.05). However, no significant differences in the IL-6, TNF-α and ferritin levels were observed between the two subgroups. Moreover, significantly higher IL-6 and TNF-α levels were detected in the T2DM group than in NCs after 12 months of treatment (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Patients with newly diagnosed T2DM exhibited a marked chronic inflammatory state characterized by increased IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and ferritin levels. After 1 year of treatment with acarbose or metformin, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β and ferritin levels were significantly decreased compared with the baseline. The anti-inflammatory effects of acarbose and metformin were comparable and required a long-term treatment (1 year), but the characteristics were different. Further investigations are needed to determine whether this effect was independent of the hypoglycemic effects.

Keywords: acarbose; inflammatory biomarkers; metformin; newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

References

    1. Akash MSH, Rehman K, Liaqat A, Numan M, Mahmood Q, Kamal S. Biochemical investigation of gender-specific association between insulin resistance and inflammatory biomarkers in types 2 diabetic patients. Biomed Pharmacother. 2018;106:285–291. doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2018.06.044 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Liu C, Feng X, Li Q, Wang Y, Li Q, Hua M. Adiponectin, TNF-α and inflammatory cytokines and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cytokine. 2016;86:100–109. doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2016.06.028 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kanwal R, Akash MSH. Mechanisms of inflammatory responses and development of insulin resistance: how are they interlinked? Biomed Sci. 2016;23:87. doi:10.1186/s12929-016-0303-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wegner M, Araszkiewicz A, Piorunska-Stolzmann M, Wierusz-Wysocka B, Zozulinska-Ziolkiewicz D. Association between IL-6 concentration and diabetes-related variables in DM1 patients with and without microvascular complications. Inflammation. 2013;36:723–728. doi:10.1007/s10753-013-9598-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. D’Amico AG, Maugeri G, Rasà DM, et al. Modulation of IL-1β and VEGF expression in rat diabetic retinopathy after PACAP administration. Peptides. 2017;97:64–69. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2017.09.014 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms