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DPP-IV inhibitors may reduce risk for autoimmune diseases
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SAN DIEGO — Patients with type 2 diabetes treated with DDP-IV inhibitors had a reduced risk for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and others, according to study results presented here.
“We found that these type 2 diabetes patients that started DPP-IV inhibitor therapy had a lower risk of autoimmune disease, in general,” Seoyoung C. Kim, MD, MSCE, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Endocrine Today. “We see potential benefit of this drug in type 2 diabetes patients in terms of preventing or maybe delaying the onset of autoimmune disease. Of course, further studies are needed to see why this is the case because we have some ideas as to why the drug is beneficial, but we don’t know exactly how. Future research should look at the mechanism and see if this drug has real therapeutic potential in this population.”
Seoyoung C. Kim
The study researchers looked at 73,928 patients starting DPP-IV inhibitor combination therapy and 163,062 starting non–DPP-IV inhibitor combination therapies. Researchers controlled for age, sex, comorbidities, diabetes-related factors, medications and health care utilization.
Risks for rheumatoid arthritis and composite autoimmune disease were lower in the DPP-IV inhibitor group vs. non–DPP-IV inhibitors, with an HR of 0.66 (95% CI, 0.44-0.99) for rheumatoid arthritis, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.51-1.03) for other autoimmune disease and 0.68 (95% CI, 0.52-0.89) for composite autoimmune disease in the propensity score-stratified analysis. In a subgroup analysis, the risk for other autoimmune disease and composite autoimmune disease was significantly reduced in initiators of DPP-IV inhibitor combination therapy compared with sulfonylurea combination therapy, but not compared with thiazolidinediones.
“If this drug has any potential for preventing a potentially high-risk patient for autoimmune disease, it’s a long shot. We are trying to say this is a first step to get there,” Kim said.
For more information:
Kim SC. Abstract #2685. Presented at: the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting; Oct. 26-30, 2013; San Diego.
Disclosure: Kim received a research grant from Pfizer and tuition support for the Pharmacoepidemiology Program at the Harvard School of Public Health funded by Pfizer, Millennium, Pharma and Asisa. Please see abstract for full disclosures.