Glucagon-Like Peptide 1: A Predictor of Type 2 Diabetes?

Background. the incretin effect is impaired in patients with type 2 diabetes. aim. to assess the relation between the incretin hormone glp-1 and the prediabetic subtypes: impaired fasting glucose (ifg),impaired glucose tolerance (igt),and the combined ifg/igt to investigate whether a low glp-1 response may be a predictor of prediabetes in adults. method. 298 articles were found using a broad search phrase on the pubmed database and after the assessment of titles and abstracts 19 articles were included. results and discussion. studies assessing i-ifg/ifg and i-igt/igt found both increased,unaltered,and reduced glp-1 levels. studies assessing ifg/igt found unaltered or reduced glp-1 levels. when assessing the five studies with the largest sample size,it clearly suggests a decreased glp-1 response in ifg/igt subjects. several other factors (bmi,glucagon,age,and nonesterified fatty acids (nefa)),including medications (metformin),may also influence the secretion of glp-1. conclusion. this review suggests that the glp-1 response is a variable in prediabetes possibly due to a varying glp-1-secreting profile during the development and progression of type 2 diabetes or difference in the measurement technique. longitudinal prospective studies are needed to assess whether a reduced glp-1 response is a predictor of diabetes. © 2017 matthias ploug larsen and signe sørensen torekov.