Author: Bolysbek Dana
Editor: Merentsova Anastasia
Metformin is a drug that lowers blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
Patients with type 2 diabetes are usually first treated with diet therapy and exercise therapy (exercise therapy). The ineffectiveness of these methods for controlling blood glucose levels suggests the need to switch to "hypoglycemic" drugs.
Unfortunately, approximately 30% of patients with type 2 diabetes do not respond to metformin, suggesting that another drug should be prescribed. About a third of patients have side effects of the drug, usually in the form of nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Five percent stop taking the medication because of serious side effects. For this reason, it is important to be able to identify these patients after diagnosis.
Scientists conducted a study with 363 participants from three different countries. They analyzed epigenetic data from genomes, which allowed them to see the degree of DNA methylation (modification of a DNA molecule without changing the nucleotide sequence itself) in different parts of the genome, in the blood of people who were diagnosed with diabetes before they started taking metformin. They found a link between increased DNA methylation at 11 genome sites and a 2.5% increase in the likelihood of not responding to metformin. Through follow-up, one year later, the researchers were able to find out which patients benefited from treatment with this drug and whether they suffered from side effects.
Also, the result of the work was the discovery by scientists of biomarkers indicating which patients will better tolerate metformin and which will not, which will contribute to the development of personalized therapy for type 2 diabetes in the future.
The next step of the scientists is to continue the clinical study with a larger group of patients (1000 patients from all over the world will be invited to participate).
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917105333.htm
