The use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic renal disease

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and renal pathology necessitates the revision of the presently adopted approaches to renal replacement therapy with a view of relieving the economic and financial burden imposed by the use of expensive therapeutic methods on the health budgets of the developed countries. The importance of achievement and maintenance of the target blood sugar levels for the prevention of the development and progression of renal lesions has been demonstrated in a series of large-scale clinical studies. Compensation of disorders of carbohydrate metabolism at the late stages of chronic renal disease in the patients presenting with diabetes mellitus encounters difficulties arising from the danger of hypoglycemia associated with the impairment of renal gluconeogenesis, cumulation of antiglycemic agents and their metabolites, decreased clinical significance of glycated hemoglobin levels under conditions of developing anemia and marked hyperglycemia. Discontentedness with the currently available means for the control of carbohydrate metabolism that fail to meet the up-to-date-requirements for the effectiveness and safety in a given clinical situation accounts for the ever increasing interest in the possibility of using innovative incretin-based medicines taking into account their pharmacological profile (they are known to change insulin secretion in response to variations in blood glucose levels, improve the function of beta-cells, have beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, and control body weight).