Diabetes Drug Cut Inflammatory Blood Cells Within Two Weeks in Small Human Trial
In a Vanderbilt pilot study of 16 women with obesity and prediabetes, the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin reduced inflammatory cell clumps linked to heart disease within two weeks, an effect a diet group did not show.
A common class of diabetes drugs, SGLT2 inhibitors, reduced inflammatory cells in the blood that are linked to heart disease within two weeks in a small human trial, Vanderbilt Health said. The findings were published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.
The drug reduced clumps of immune cells and platelets
The team gave the drug empagliflozin to 16 women with obesity and prediabetes for three months and compared them with women on a low-calorie diet. Levels of monocyte-platelet aggregates, clumps formed when blood-clotting platelets stick to immune cells and thought to contribute to vascular inflammation, fell significantly after two weeks and further by week 12.
Only the group on the medication saw the drop, which suggests the effect goes beyond weight loss. The drug also shifted the women’s monocytes from a hyper-inflammatory state toward a more stable one.
“This study provides the first direct evidence of SGLT2 inhibitors altering human immune cells which may potentially reduce cardiovascular risk.” — Mona Mashayekhi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt Health
A larger, placebo-controlled trial is under way
The pilot was small and did not include a placebo group. Mashayekhi’s team has started a randomized, placebo-controlled trial at Vanderbilt with a planned 74 participants with obesity and metabolic syndrome, which will also analyze fat tissue. The pilot study is listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
SGLT2 inhibitors are already known for lowering blood sugar and weight. The work adds to other research on preventing type 2 diabetes complications, including a recent trial in which more than half of young adults with early type 2 diabetes reached remission through diet and exercise.
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