Geriatric Care (Jul 2020)

Glyphozines and treatment of cardiac disease

  • Francesco Ferrara,
  • Giovanni Granata,
  • Chiara Pelliccia,
  • Raffaele La Porta,
  • Antonio Vitiello

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4081/gc.2020.9079
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 3

Abstract

Read online

Glyphozines also called SGLT2 inhibitors, are a new class of agents that inhibit reabsorption of glucose in the kidney, in proximal tubules, and therefore lower blood sugar. They act by inhibiting sodiumglucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2). Glyphozines are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus. In studies with canagliflozin, a member of this class, the medication was found to enhance blood sugar control as well as reduce body weight and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In addition to regulate blood glucose, recent studies have shown that glyphozines have important positive cardiovascular benefits, such as weight loss, decreased volaemia and PA, reduced triglycerides, natriuresis and improved endothelial wall dysfunction. Clinical studies have shown reduction in deaths from cardiovascular events among diabetic patients treated with glyphozines. At the moment these drugs are being studied for an extension of the therapeutic indication also for cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure. In this review, we discuss the class of SGLT2 inhibitors in the treatment of diabetes, and studies focused on their possible role in the treatment of cardiac disease.

Keywords