Factors associated with treatment satisfaction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using oral glucose-lowering agents: a cross-sectional study in urban districts in Japan.

Various oral glucose-lowering agents are available in Japan. Although the objective characteristics of these drugs are well described, little is known about treatment satisfaction by patients using these agents. The aim of this study was to assess treatment satisfaction of diabetic patients visiting diabetes clinics using the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) and to determine the association of the DTSQ scores with various factors including oral glucose-lowering agents. The study subjects were 754 outpatients who had been treated with one or more oral glucose-lowering agents, but not insulin or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. The collected data included the response to DTSQ as completed by the patients, various parameters pertaining diabetes treatment including adherence, motivation, life style, social support, complications and cost burden from the patients and attending physicians. The associations among satisfaction scores and various parameters were analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. In all subjects, use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) were positively, and irregular diet time were negatively associated with satisfaction scores significantly as well as some factors which had been previously reported to be associated. Subgroup analysis showed that adherence to diet and use of SGLT2i were positively in obese (body mass index ≥25 kg/m2), and HbA1c and irregular work time were negatively in non-obese (<25 kg/m2) patients associated with satisfaction scores. These results suggest that SGLT2i is really used with high satisfaction, especially by obese patients and that factors associated with treatment satisfaction might differ between obese and non-obese patients using oral glucose-lowering agents.

Interferon stimulated gene 15 has an anti-apoptotic effect on MIN6 cells.

Type 1 diabetes, one of two major forms of diabetes, results from the complete destruction of pancreatic beta cells. Viral infection has been suggested to be a trigger of beta cell destruction, the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the protein encoded by intherferon stimulated gene (ISG) 15, an antiviral effector, in the development of this clinical entity. We used the mouse beta cell line MIN6 to investigate the role of ISG15 and paid special attention to apoptosis. Although not detected in native MIN6 cells, free ISG15 and ISG15 conjugated proteins were both present in dose-dependently increased amounts following stimulation with interferon alpha. As assessed both by caspase 3/7 activity and an annexin V assay, the percentage of apoptotic MIN6 cells (after exposure to the inflammatory cytokines of interleukin-1beta plus interferon gamma or tumor necrosis factor alpha) was decreased by pretreatment with adenovirus-expressing ISG15 and increased by expressing a short hairpin RNA directed against ISG15. In conclusion, ISG15 has an anti-apoptotic effect on MIN6 cells. Thus, promoting ISG15 expression in the pancreatic beta cells could be a potential therapeutic approach for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Motivation for Treatment Correlating Most Strongly with an Increase in Satisfaction with Type 2 Diabetes Treatment.

INTRODUCTION: We previously reported several factors that cross-sectionally correlate with treatment satisfaction in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes visiting diabetes clinics. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with longitudinal changes in treatment satisfaction in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The study included 649 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with oral glucose-lowering agents who completed the first questionnaire in 2016. The collected data included scores from the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) and other parameters regarding diabetes treatment. We analyzed 1-year longitudinal changes in DTSQ scores and investigated factors associated with these changes. RESULTS: Univariate linear regression analyses showed that changes in body weight, adherence to diet therapy, adherence to exercise therapy, cost burden, motivation for treatment, regularity of mealtimes, and perceived hypoglycemia correlated with changes in DTSQ scores. On the basis of multiple linear regression analyses, a decrease in hypoglycemia (ß ± SE = - 0.394 ± 0.134, p = 0.0034), cost burden (ß ± SE = - 0.934 ± 0.389, p = 0.017), and an increase in treatment motivation (ß ± SE = 1.621 ± 0.606, p = 0.0077) correlated with DTSQ score increases, suggesting that motivation for treatment had the strongest impact on score increases. Subgroup analyses revealed that an increase in motivation for treatment most significantly correlated with a DTSQ score increase in obese and poor glycemic control groups, regardless of age. CONCLUSION: This is the first longitudinal study clarifying that an increase in motivation for treatment most strongly correlates with an increase in DTSQ score in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Localization of nectin-free afadin at the leading edge and its involvement in directional cell movement induced by platelet-derived growth factor.

Afadin is an actin-filament-binding protein that binds to nectin, an immunoglobulin-like cell-cell adhesion molecule, and plays an important role in the formation of adherens junctions. Here, we show that afadin, which did not bind to nectin and was localized at the leading edge of moving cells, has another role: enhancement of the directional, but not random, cell movement. When NIH3T3 cells were stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), afadin colocalized with PDGF receptor, alphavbeta3 integrin and nectin-like molecule-5 at the leading edge and facilitated the formation of leading-edge structures and directional cell movement in the direction of PDGF stimulation. However, these phenotypes were markedly perturbed by knockdown of afadin, and were dependent on the binding of afadin to active Rap1. Binding of Rap1 to afadin was necessary for the recruitment of afadin and the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 to the leading edge. SHP-2 was previously reported to tightly regulate the activation of PDGF receptor and its downstream signaling pathway for the formation of the leading edge. These results indicate that afadin has a novel role in PDGF-induced directional cell movement, presumably in cooperation with active Rap1 and SHP-2.

Treatment of Mitochondrial Diabetes with a Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor (PPAR)-gamma Agonist.

The 3243 A>G mutation in mitochondrial DNA is the most common cause of monogenic diabetes mellitus in Japan. A 45-year-old woman with mitochondrial diabetes and significant insulin resistance presented with hypoadiponectinemia despite a normal amount of visceral fat. Three months of treatment with pioglitazone (PIO) improved her blood glucose profile and response to the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. These changes were accompanied by the amelioration of her insulin resistance and the impairment of early-phase insulin secretion. Her serum adiponectin levels increased to the normal range. In this case of mitochondrial diabetes, PIO was effective for glycemic control.

Low gene expression levels of activating receptors of natural killer cells (NKG2E and CD94) in patients with fulminant type 1 diabetes.

Fulminant type 1 diabetes is an independent subtype of type 1 diabetes characterized by extremely rapid onset and absence of islet-related autoantibodies. However, detailed pathophysiology of this subtype is poorly understood. In this study, a comprehensive approach was applied to understand the pathogenesis of fulminant type 1 diabetes. We determined the genes that were differentially expressed in fulminant type 1 diabetes compared with type 1A diabetes and healthy control, using gene expression microarray in peripheral blood cells. Using volcano plot analysis, we found reduced expression of killer cell lectin-like receptor subfamily C, member 3 (KLRC3) which encodes NKG2E, a natural killer (NK) cell activating receptor, in fulminant type 1 diabetes, compared with healthy controls. This difference was confirmed by real-time RT-PCR among NK-enriched cells. The expression of KLRD1 (CD94), which forms heterodimer with NKG2E (KLRC3), was also reduced in NK-enriched cells in fulminant type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, flow cytometry showed significantly lower proportion of NK cells among peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in fulminant type 1 diabetes than in healthy controls. In patients with fulminant type 1 diabetes, the relative proportion of NK cells correlated significantly with the time period between onset of fever to the appearance of hyperglycemic-related symptoms. We conclude the presence of reduced NK activating receptor gene expression and low proportion of NK cells in fulminant type 1 diabetes.

Regulation of platelet-derived growth factor receptor activation by afadin through SHP-2: implications for cellular morphology.

Upon binding of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), PDGF receptor is autophosphorylated at tyrosine residues in its cytoplasmic region, which induces the activation of diverse intracellular signaling pathways such those involving Ras-ERK, c-Src, and Rap1-Rac. Signaling through activated Ras-ERK promotes cell cycle and cell proliferation. The sequential activation of Rap1 and Rac affects cellular morphology and induces the formation of leading-edge structures, including lamellipodia, peripheral ruffles, and focal complexes, resulting in the enhancement of cell movement. In addition to the promotion of cell proliferation, the Ras-ERK signaling is involved in the regulation of cellular morphology. Here, we showed a novel role of afadin in the regulation of PDGF-induced intracellular signaling and cellular morphology in NIH3T3 cells. Afadin was originally identified as an actin filament-binding protein, which binds to a cell-cell adhesion molecule nectin and is involved in the formation of cell-cell junctions. When afadin was tyrosine-phosphorylated by c-Src activated in response to PDGF, afadin physically interacted with and increased the phosphatase activity of Src homology 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP-2), a protein-tyrosine phosphatase that dephosphorylates PDGF receptor, leading to the prevention of hyperactivation of PDGF receptor and the Ras-ERK signaling. In contrast, knockdown of afadin or SHP-2 induced the hyperactivation of PDGF receptor and Ras-ERK signaling and consequently suppressed the formation of leading-edge structures. Thus, afadin plays a critical role in the proper regulation of the PDGF-induced activation of PDGF receptor and signaling by Ras-ERK. This effect, which is mediated by SHP-2, impacts cellular morphology.

Cooperative roles of Par-3 and afadin in the formation of adherens and tight junctions.

Par-3 is a cell-polarity protein that regulates the formation of tight junctions (TJs) in epithelial cells, where claudin is a major cell-cell adhesion molecule (CAM). TJs are formed at the apical side of adherens junctions (AJs), where E-cadherin and nectin are major CAMs. We have revealed that nectin first forms cell-cell adhesions, and then recruits cadherin to nectin-based cell-cell adhesion sites to form AJs and subsequently recruits claudin to the apical side of AJs to form TJs. The cytoplasmic tail of nectin binds afadin and Par-3. Afadin regulates the formation of AJs and TJs cooperatively with nectin. Here, we studied the role of Par-3 in the formation of these junctions by using Par-3-knockdown MDCK cells. Par-3 was necessary for the formation of AJs and TJs but was not necessary for nectin-based cell-cell adhesion. Par-3 promoted the association of afadin with nectin, whereas afadin was not necessary for the association of Par-3 with nectin. However, the association of afadin with nectin alone was not sufficient for the formation of AJs or TJs, and Par-3 and afadin cooperatively regulated it. We describe here these novel roles of Par-3 in the formation of junctional complexes.