Characteristics of repaglinide and its mechanism of action on insulin secretion in patients with newly diagnosed type-2 diabetes mellitus.

This study aims to compare the effect of repaglinide and metformin among Chinese patients with newly diagnosed diabetes, and explore the possible mechanisms by which repaglinide alters insulin secretion.Sixty subjects with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) < 10.0% were randomly selected to receive repaglinide or metformin monotherapy for 15 weeks. Blood glucose levels, glycemic variability, ß-cell function, and first-phase insulin secretion were compared between these 2 groups at baseline and at 15 weeks. Mouse insulinoma (MIN-6) cells were divided into 3 groups: low glucose, high glucose, and repaglinide 50 nm groups. Cells and cell culture mediums were collected at different timepoints. The expression of pericentrin (PCNT), F-actin, and insulin were tested with immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.All glycemic parameters and variability indexes significantly decreased from baseline to 15 weeks, while no significant difference was found between these 2 groups at baseline or at 15 weeks. Furthermore, there was no significant difference found in fasting insulin and postprandial insulin at baseline and at 15 weeks, while homeostasis model assessment ß significantly increased. The first-phase glucose and insulin secretion of the intravenous glucose tolerance test improved in both groups, especially in the repaglinide group. Insulin, PCNT, and F-actin expression in MIN-6 cells decreased after 15 minutes of stimulation with repaglinide, while no difference was observed at 2, 6, and 12 hours. The insulin levels of the cell medium in the repaglinide group remained significantly higher at all timepoints.This study manifests that repaglinide has a noninferiority effect on the glycemic parameters of Chinese patients with newly diagnosed diabetes, when compared with metformin. The PCNT-F-actin pathway plays an important role in the repaglinide regulation process of on-demand insulin secretion.

Actin-binding protein G (AbpG) participates in modulating the actin cytoskeleton and cell migration in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Cell migration is involved in various physiological and pathogenic events, and the complex underlying molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. The simple eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum displays chemotactic locomotion in stages of its life cycle. By characterizing a Dictyostelium mutant defective in chemotactic responses, we identified a novel actin-binding protein serving to modulate cell migration and named it actin-binding protein G (AbpG); this 971-amino acid (aa) protein contains an N-terminal type 2 calponin homology (CH2) domain followed by two large coiled-coil regions. In chemoattractant gradients, abpG(-) cells display normal directional persistence but migrate significantly more slowly than wild-type cells; expressing Flag-AbpG in mutant cells eliminates the motility defect. AbpG is enriched in cortical/lamellipodial regions and colocalizes well with F-actin; aa 401-600 and aa 501-550 fragments of AbpG show the same distribution as full-length AbpG. The aa 501-550 region of AbpG, which is essential for AbpG to localize to lamellipodia and to rescue the phenotype of abpG(-) cells, is sufficient for binding to F-actin and represents a novel actin-binding protein domain. Compared with wild-type cells, abpG(-) cells have significantly higher F-actin levels. Collectively our results suggest that AbpG may participate in modulating actin dynamics to optimize cell locomotion.

The cutoffs and performance of glycated hemoglobin for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes in a young and middle-aged population and in an elderly population.

The aims were to compare the appropriate cutoffs of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in a population of varying ages and to evaluate the performance of HbA1c for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes. A total of 1064 participants in the young and middle-aged group and 1671 in the elderly group were included and underwent HbA1c testing and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated to evaluate the optimal HbA1c cutoffs. Kappa coefficients were used to test for agreement between HbA1c categorization and OGTT-based diagnoses. The optimal HbA1c cutoffs for diagnosing diabetes were 5.7% (39 mmol/mol) in the young and middle-aged group with a sensitivity of 66.7%, specificity of 86.7%, and AUC of 0.821 (95% CI: 0.686, 0.955) and 5.9% (41 mmol/mol) in the elderly group with a sensitivity of 80.4%, specificity of 73.3%, and AUC of 0.831 (0.801, 0.861). The optimal cutoffs for diagnosing prediabetes were 5.6% (38 mmol/mol) and 5.7% (39 mmol/mol) in the young and middle-aged group and in the elderly group, respectively. Agreement between the OGTT-based diagnosis of diabetes or prediabetes and the optimal HbA1c cutoff was low (all kappa coefficients <0.4). The combination of HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose increased diagnostic sensitivities or specificities. In conclusion, age-specific HbA1c cutoffs for diagnosing diabetes or prediabetes were appropriate. Furthermore, the performance of HbA1c for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes was poor. HbA1c should be used in combination with traditional glucose criteria when detecting and diagnosing diabetes or prediabetes.

Association between glycemic indices and beta cell function in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the relationship between glycemic indices and ß cell function in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The cross-sectional analysis included 61 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes who received continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for 72 hours. The association between ß cell function and glycemic indices including A1C and glycemic variability was investigated. RESULTS: A1C (r = -0.405, p = 0.001) and standard deviation of blood glucose (SDBG, r = -0.274, p = 0.032) were significantly correlated to HOMA-ß cell function (HBCI), whereas mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE, r = -0.210, p = 0.104) was not informative. After multiple confounders adjustments, A1C (ß = -7.35, p < 0.001), MAGE (ß = -4.64, p = 0.040), and SDBG (ß = -12.3, p = 0.012) were associated with HBCI. CONCLUSION: A1C and glycemic variability were both associated with ß cell function in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. The main limitations of the present study are the cross-sectional design in nature and the limited sample size.

Comparison of repaglinide and metformin monotherapy as an initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to compare the effect of repaglinide and metformin monotherapy as an initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this 15-week, open-labelled, parallel-controlled, randomised study, 60 Chinese drug-naive patients with newly diagnosed T2DM were randomised (2:1) to receive repaglinide or metformin monotherapy. Primary endpoint was change in HbA1c from baseline to the end of the trial. Secondary endpoints included changes in glycaemic variability, insulin sensitivity and ß-cell function. RESULTS: Patients in both repaglinide and metformin groups achieved significant reductions in HbA1c (-1.8 ± 1.5 vs -1.6 ± 1.5%), FPG (fasting blood glucose) (-1.7 ± 1.7 vs -2.1 ± 1.7  mmol/l) and 2-h PPG (post-prandial glucose) (-3.8 ± 3.1 vs -3.8 ± 3.6  mmol/l), with no statistical differences between the groups. Glycaemic variability, glucose infusion rate and ß-cell function were all significantly improved from baseline in the two groups (all P<0.05), without any statistical differences in the improvement between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Repaglinide and metformin achieved comparable efficacy in improving glycaemic control, reducing glycaemic variability, enhancing insulin sensitivity and ameliorating ß-cell function. Therefore, repaglinide is an optional agent for initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed T2DM.