RECENT ADVANCES ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF METFORMIN THERAPY IN DIABETIC PATIENTS
Swaminathan Selvanayagam*, Arun Kumar Daniel, Dhananjayan Rangan and Sridevi Anantharaman
ABSTRACT
Metformin is the first line choice of oral antidiabetic drug to control blood glucose levels in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients. It is marketed under the trade name Glucophage. It is found to be very effective for the treatment of T2DM in obese people with normal kidney function. It increases body’s response to insulin. It contains the ingredient metformin hydrochloride and it is available both in combination with other drugs or as single as metformin. Glutamate Decarboxylase or Glutamic acid Decarboxylase (GAD) is an enzyme that catalyses the decarboxylation of glutamate to ï§-Amino Butyric Acid (GABA) and CO2. In mammals, GAD exists in two isoforms, GAD 67 and GAD 65 according to molecular weights of 67 and 65 K respectively and they are targets of autoantibodies in people who develop Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood (LADA). GAD is one of the strongest candidate autoantigen involved in triggering beta-cell-specific autoantibody and GAD-Antibody (GADA) is one of the most commonly detected antibodies in newly diagnosed T1DM. This review article brings out the outcome of recent research findings on the use of metformin, its merits and demerits in controlling both types of DM and the laboratory diagnostic link of GADA to metformin therapy.
Keywords: Metformin, GAD, T2DM, LADA, GADA.
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