Title:Cardiorenal Protections of SGLT2 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Type 2
Diabetes
Volume: 19
Issue: 8
Author(s): Somayeh Nazari and Hossein Mirkhani*
Affiliation:
- Medicinal & Natural Products Chemistry Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Department of Pharmacology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Keywords:
Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney diseases, sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperglycemia, diabetic nephropathy.
Abstract: Cardiovascular disease and renal complications raise the risk of death and morbidity in
patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Sodium/glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are a
novel class of glucose-lowering drug that increases urine glucose excretion while decreasing blood
glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients by inhibiting glucose reabsorption. In the present article,
we review the discovery and development of SGLT2i as a new T2D treatment approach for T2D;
thereafter, we consider different cell-based methods for the evaluation of SGLT2i. Finally, we provide
evidences from both clinical and experimental studies which bring up the cardio-renal protective
effects of SGLT2i. We performed a literature search using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web
of Science to identify publications on preclinical and clinical studies of cardiorenal protective action
of SGLT2i and their suggested mechanisms. SGLT2i have shown good effects in the improvement
of cardiovascular and renal complications independent of glucose lowering effects. Besides
controlling blood glucose levels, SGLT2i were found to exhibit therapeutic benefits on the
kidney and cardiovascular system by lowering diabetic glomerular hyperfiltration, blood pressure
(BP), body weight, uric acid concentrations, lipid peroxidation, inflammation, etc. As a result of
their distinct mode of action, SGLT2i have emerged as a promising treatment option for T2D and
maybe T1D due to their increased urine excretion of glucose. It has been demonstrated that
SGLT2i have considerable protective effects on diabetic nephropathy (DN) and cardiomyopathy in
well-designed experimental and clinical investigations.
