Novel glucose-lowering drugs for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Zuodi Fu, Xiaoling Cai, Wenjia Yang, Mingming Zhao, Ran Li, Yufeng Li
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The efficacy of novel glucose-lowering drugs in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unknown. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of glucose-lowering drugs dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors in treating NAFLD and to perform a comparison between these treatments. METHODS: Electronic databases were systematically searched. The inclusion criteria were: Randomized controlled trials comparing DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 RAs, or SGLT2 inhibitors against placebo or other active glucose-lowering drugs in NAFLD patients, with outcomes of changes in liver enzyme [alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and/or aspartate aminotransferase (AST)] from baseline. RESULTS: < 0.05). The trends of reduction in magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction and visceral fat area changes were also observed in all the novel glucose-lowering agent treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 RAs, and SGLT2 inhibitors resulted in improvements in serum ALT and AST levels and body fat composition, indicating a beneficial effect in improving liver injury and reducing liver fat in NAFLD patients.