Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists to expand the healthy lifespan: Current and future potentials.

To help ensure an expanded healthy lifespan for as many people as possible worldwide, there is a need to prevent or manage a number of prevalent chronic diseases directly and indirectly closely related to aging, including diabetes and obesity. Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have proven beneficial in type 2 diabetes, are amongst the few medicines approved for weight management, and are also licensed for focused cardiovascular risk reduction. In addition, strong evidence suggests several other beneficial effects of the pleiotropic peptide hormone, including anti-inflammation.

The rationale, design and baseline data of FLOW, a kidney outcomes trial with once-weekly semaglutide in people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common complication of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) improve glycaemic control and lower body weight in people with T2D, and some reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events in those with high CV risk. GLP-1RAs might also have kidney-protective effects.

Insulin at 100: still central in protein-based therapy for chronic disease.

The discovery of insulin has inspired several pivotal medical and scientific developments during the past 100 years. Here, we describe how insulin as a model protein will drive future advances in peptide- and protein-based therapies for chronic diseases.

Current and future therapies for type 1 diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes, insulin remains the mature therapeutic cornerstone; yet, the increasing number of individuals developing type 1 diabetes (predominantly children and adolescents) still face severe complications. Fortunately, our understanding of type 1 diabetes is continuously being refined, allowing for refocused development of novel prevention and management strategies. Hitherto, attempts based on immune suppression and modulation have been only partly successful in preventing the key pathophysiological feature in type 1 diabetes: the immune-mediated derangement or destruction of beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, leading to low or absent insulin secretion and chronic hyperglycaemia.

Early postoperative continuous glucose monitoring in pancreas transplant recipients.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is used in people with type 1 diabetes to help with insulin treatment regimens. Its value in whole-organ pancreas transplantation (PT) is largely unknown. This study aimed to use CGM to assess the metabolic profile of pancreas transplant recipients in the early post-transplant period.

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase single nucleotide polymorphism and left ventricular function in early chronic kidney disease.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with accelerated cardiovascular disease and heart failure. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) Glu298Asp single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype has been associated with a worse phenotype amongst patients with established heart failure and in patients with progression of their renal disease. The association of a cardiac functional difference in non-dialysis CKD patients with no known previous heart failure, and eNOS gene variant is investigated.

Efficacy and safety of a fixed-ratio combination of insulin degludec and liraglutide (IDegLira) compared with its components given alone: results of a phase 3, open-label, randomised, 26-week, treat-to-target trial in insulin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: A fixed-ratio combination of the basal insulin analogue insulin degludec and the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue liraglutide has been developed as a once-daily injection for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. We aimed to compare combined insulin degludec-liraglutide (IDegLira) with its components given alone in insulin-naive patients.

Methods: In this phase 3, 26-week, open-label, randomised trial, adults with type 2 diabetes, HbA1c of 7-10% (inclusive), a BMI of 40 kg/m(2) or less, and treated with metformin with or without pioglitazone were randomly assigned (2:1:1) to daily injections of IDegLira, insulin degludec, or liraglutide (1·8 mg per day).

Comparison of IFCC-calibrated HbA(1c) from laboratory and point of care testing systems.

Objective: WHO, IDF and ADA recommend HbA(1c) ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol) for diagnosis of diabetes with pre-diabetes 6.0% (42 mmol/mol) [WHO] or 5.

Impact of month of birth on the development of autoimmune thyroid disease in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Context: Viral/bacterial infection is proposed as a trigger for the autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD): Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Previous studies in European Caucasian AITD subjects found higher birth rates in the autumn/winter, suggesting those born in the autumn/winter experience increased viral/bacterial exposure after birth, impacting upon immune system development and predisposing to AITD later in life.

Objective: Month of birth effects were investigated in three independent European Caucasian AITD datasets.

Identification of novel genetic Loci associated with thyroid peroxidase antibodies and clinical thyroid disease.

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are common, affecting 2-5% of the general population. Individuals with positive thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs) have an increased risk of autoimmune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), as well as autoimmune hyperthyroidism (Graves' disease). As the possible causative genes of TPOAbs and AITD remain largely unknown, we performed GWAS meta-analyses in 18,297 individuals for TPOAb-positivity (1769 TPOAb-positives and 16,528 TPOAb-negatives) and in 12,353 individuals for TPOAb serum levels, with replication in 8,990 individuals.

Liraglutide efficacy and action in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (LEAN): study protocol for a phase II multicentre, double-blinded, randomised, controlled trial.

Introduction: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is now the commonest cause of chronic liver disease. Despite this, there are no universally accepted pharmacological therapies for NASH. Liraglutide (Victoza), a human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, has been shown to improve weight loss, glycaemic control and liver enzymes in type 2 diabetes.

Skewed X chromosome inactivation and female preponderance in autoimmune thyroid disease: an association study and meta-analysis.

Context: A number of small data sets have suggested a potential role for skewed X chromosome activation (XCI), away from the expected 50:50 parent of origin ratio, as an explanation for the strong female preponderance seen in the common autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD), Graves' disease (GD), and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT).

Objective: The objective of the study was to confirm a role for XCI skewing as a potential explanation for the strong female preponderance seen in AITD.

Design: The design of the study was to screen XCI in the largest GD, HT, and control case-control cohort and family cohort to date and undertake a meta-analysis of previous AITD XCI reports.

Elderly patients with diabetes experience a lower rate of nocturnal hypoglycaemia with insulin degludec than with insulin glargine: a meta-analysis of phase IIIa trials.

Background And Objective: Elderly patients with diabetes are more vulnerable to the occurrence and effects of hypoglycaemia; therefore, treatments with low risk of hypoglycaemia are preferred in this population. This study aimed to compare hypoglycaemia rates between insulin degludec (IDeg) and insulin glargine (IGlar) in elderly patients.

Methods: Hypoglycaemia data from patients ≥65 years of age with type 1 (T1DM) or type 2 (T2DM) diabetes from seven randomised, treat-to-target phase IIIa trials were used to compare IDeg and IGlar in a pre-planned meta-analysis.

Safety and efficacy of sitagliptin-metformin in fixed combination for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The biguanide, metformin, is considered first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes. Sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor acts through the incretin pathway and has a glucose dependent mode of action. The complementary hypoglycemic properties of these drugs make fixed dose combination treatment an attractive prospect.

Low-volume insulin degludec 200 units/ml once daily improves glycemic control similarly to insulin glargine with a low risk of hypoglycemia in insulin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes: a 26-week, randomized, controlled, multinational, treat-to-target trial: the BEGIN LOW VOLUME trial.

Objective: The 200 units/mL formulation of insulin degludec (IDeg 200 units/mL) contains equal units of insulin in half the volume compared with the 100 units/mL formulation. We compared the efficacy and safety of IDeg 200 units/mL once daily with 100 units/mL insulin glargine (IGlar) in insulin-naïve subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) inadequately controlled with oral antidiabetic drugs.

Research Design And Methods: In this 26-week, open-label, treat-to-target trial, subjects (n = 457; mean HbA1c 8.

Negligible impact of rare autoimmune-locus coding-region variants on missing heritability.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified common variants of modest-effect size at hundreds of loci for common autoimmune diseases; however, a substantial fraction of heritability remains unexplained, to which rare variants may contribute. To discover rare variants and test them for association with a phenotype, most studies re-sequence a small initial sample size and then genotype the discovered variants in a larger sample set. This approach fails to analyse a large fraction of the rare variants present in the entire sample set.

Inhibition of islet immunoreactivity by adiponectin is attenuated in human type 1 diabetes.

Context: Adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived cytokine with insulin-sensitizing and antiinflammatory properties. These dual actions have not previously been examined in the context of human disease.

Objectives: Our objective was to examine the adiponectin axis in type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The efficacy and safety of insulin degludec given in variable once-daily dosing intervals compared with insulin glargine and insulin degludec dosed at the same time daily: a 26-week, randomized, open-label, parallel-group, treat-to-target trial in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: The requirement to inject current basal insulin analogs at a fixed time each day may complicate adherence and compromise glycemic control. This trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of varying the daily injection time of insulin degludec (IDeg), an ultra-long-acting basal insulin.

Research Design And Methods: This 26-week, open-label, treat-to-target trial enrolled adults (≥18 years) with type 2 diabetes who were either insulin naïve and receiving oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) (HbA(1c) = 7-11%) or previously on basal insulin ± OAD(s) (HbA(1c) = 7-10%).

Bayesian refinement of association signals for 14 loci in 3 common diseases.

To further investigate susceptibility loci identified by genome-wide association studies, we genotyped 5,500 SNPs across 14 associated regions in 8,000 samples from a control group and 3 diseases: type 2 diabetes (T2D), coronary artery disease (CAD) and Graves' disease. We defined, using Bayes theorem, credible sets of SNPs that were 95% likely, based on posterior probability, to contain the causal disease-associated SNPs. In 3 of the 14 regions, TCF7L2 (T2D), CTLA4 (Graves' disease) and CDKN2A-CDKN2B (T2D), much of the posterior probability rested on a single SNP, and, in 4 other regions (CDKN2A-CDKN2B (CAD) and CDKAL1, FTO and HHEX (T2D)), the 95% sets were small, thereby excluding most SNPs as potentially causal.

Early change in blood glucose concentration is an indicator of mortality in critically ill children.

Objective: Hyperglycaemia is associated with increased mortality in critically ill patients. A number of studies have highlighted an association between increased variability of blood glucose (BG) concentration and mortality, supporting a survival disadvantage if BG homeostasis is lost. By exploring the longitudinal BG profile of individual children over time, this study investigates the importance of intact homeostasis early after admission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Donor ABCB1 variant associates with increased risk for kidney allograft failure.

The impact of variation within genes responsible for the disposition and metabolism of calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) on clinical outcomes in kidney transplantation is not well understood. Furthermore, the potential influence of donor, rather than recipient, genotypes on clinical endpoints is unknown. Here, we investigated the associations between donor and recipient gene variants with outcome among 4471 white, CNI-treated kidney transplant recipients.