A new study suggests that one of the most common diabetes treatments may speed type 2 diabetes progression by causing insulin-producing cells to lose their functional identity.
Sulphonylureas have been used to treat type 2 diabetes since the early 1950s and remain among the most frequently prescribed medications for the disease. Common examples include glimepiride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol), and glyburide (Diabeta, Micronase). Even so, evidence shows that their effectiveness can decline with long-term use and that they may produce more side effects than several newer diabetes drugs.
New research from the University of Barcelona, the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Bellvitge University Hospital, and the CIBER Area for Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) indicates that sulphonylureas may interfere with the normal function of insulin-producing cells.
The study found that these drugs can drive a loss of cellular identity in pancreatic beta cells, limiting their ability to release insulin and potentially speeding the progression of type 2 diabetes.
The findings were published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism and were led by Professor Eduard Montanya of the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The gears of diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic condition caused by an abnormal increase in blood glucose (hyperglycemia). This complex disease involves insulin, the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels, and the pancreatic beta (β) cells, which are responsible for producing insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance and a progressive loss of β-cell function to cope with it. Both β-cell death and loss of β-cell identity play an important role in these alterations, a process known in animal models and now corroborated in humans by the researchers.
