A new generation of diabetes drugs can be used to protect against low blood sugar levels, according to Swedish researchers.
The DPP4-inhibitors were developed to control high blood sugar levels.
They were already known to carry a low risk of causing hypoglycaemia.
Now the researchers from Lund University say they have identified the two hormones on which the drug works – suggesting it works by stabilising blood sugar levels rather than just reducing them.
They found the drugs increase levels of the hormones GIP and glucagon. The study also found the hormone GIP normalises blood sugar levels, rather than just reducing them as had previously been thought, they report in Diabetologia.
Researcher Siri Malmgren said: “If these inhibitors also prove effective in humans against low blood sugar, then this supports the idea that the area of application of these drugs could be broadened to include persons with diabetes that is difficult to control and suffer from frequent hypoglycaemias.
“We believe that DPP-4 inhibitors not only lower blood sugar but also provide direct protection against hypoglycaemia, at least in mice, and that they do this by increasing levels of the hormones GIP and glucagon."
DPP-4 inhibition contributes to the prevention of hypoglycaemia through a GIP–glucagon counterregulatory axis in mice Diabetologia 9 February 2015; doi:10.1007/s00125-015-3518-7 [abstract]
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