Acute renal effects of the GLP-1 receptor agonist exenatide in overweight type 2 diabetes patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Exenatide in this randomized controlled trial publication.

This study aimed to investigate the acute renal effects of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) exenatide in type 2 diabetes patients.

Why It Was Studied

ClincialTrials.gov NCT01744236 FUNDING : The research leading to these results has been funded from: (1) the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number 282521 - the SAFEGUARD project; and (2) the Dutch Kidney Foundation, under grant agreement IP12.87.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 2 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Exenatide and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received Exenatide.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Exenatide could be set against what happens without it.

Tubular function was assessed by absolute and fractional excretion of sodium (FENa), potassium (FEK) and urea (FEU), in addition to urine osmolality, pH and free water clearance.

Renal damage markers, BP and plasma glucose were also determined.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Blood Pressure, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Exenatide, Glomerular Filtration Rate, Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor, Hemodynamics and Hypoglycemic Agents.

Author keywords: GLP-1 receptor agonist, Glomerular hyperfiltration, Renal function, Renal haemodynamics and Type 2 diabetes.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Exenatide in 2 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2016 (Diabetologia), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Exenatide compound page, all human trials.