Evaluation of the Efficacy of Combination of Dapagliflozin and Lobeglitazone on Glucose Concentrations and Body Fat in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Previously, metformin, sulfonylurea, and insulin injections were used to treat diabetes, but since then, various new drugs such as thiazolidinedione (TZD), sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist have been released. Among them, metformin and TZD are known to improve insulin resistance, SGLT-2 inhibitor has a mechanism to excrete glucose into urine, and other drugs have a mechanism to promote insulin secretion.

After a report in 2007 that rosiglitazone could increase cardiovascular disease, use of TZD has been limited. However, more people are having insulin resistance, and this is more evident in developing countries. In this circumstance, TZD can be a main stay for diabetic patients with insulin resistance. TZDs improve insulin sensitivity by activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). They have shown excellent glycemic durability. On the other hand, SGLT-2 inhibitors are attracting attention as a mechanism that directly excretes excess glucose in diabetic patients through urine. Many cardiovascular outcome trials have proven its efficacy in cardiovascular and renal outcomes. Current guidelines proposed a new paradigm in the management of T2DM, with a preferential place for SGLT-2 inhibitors, after metformin, in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, heart failure and progressive kidney disease.

As such, combination therapy of TZD and SGLT-2 inhibitors, two drugs that have mechanisms for improving insulin resistance and urinary glucose excretion, would have compensatory effects, which would be effective for diabetes treatment. In addition, since studies that investigated effect of TZD and SGLT-2 inhibitor combination on changes in body fat mass and metabolic phenotype are lacking, we investigated the effect of reducing visceral fat (abdominal visceral fat mass/abdominal subcutaneous fat mass) in combination therapy with dapagliflozin, an SGLT-2 inhibitor, and lobeglitazone, a TZD.