DPP-4 inhibitors: A promising feasible therapeutic approach for myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury

The impact of DPP-4 inhibitors on long-term survival among diabetic patients after first acute myocardial infarction

Background

Previous studies regarding the cardioprotective effects of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have not provided sufficient evidence of a relationship between DPP-4 inhibition and actual cardiovascular outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of DPP-4 inhibitors on the survival of diabetic patients after first acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods

This was a nationwide, propensity score-matched, case–control study of 186,112 first AMI patients, 72,924 of whom had diabetes. A propensity score, one-to-one matching technique was used to match 2672 controls to 2672 patients in the DPP-4 inhibitor group for analysis. Controls were matched based on gender, age, and a history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, end-stage renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and percutaneous coronary intervention.

Results

DPP-4 inhibitors improve the overall 3-year survival rate (log rank P < 0.0001), whether male or female. Cox proportional hazard regression showed DPP-4 inhibitor is beneficial in diabetes patients after AMI (HR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.78–0.95), especially in those patients with hypertension (HR = 0.87; 95% CI 0.78–0.97; P = 0.0103) and cerebrovascular disease (HR = 0.83; 95% CI 0.72–0.97; P = 0.018), but without dyslipidemia (HR = 0.78; 95% CI 0.67–0.92; P = 0.0029), without peripheral vascular disease (HR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.78–0.96; P = 0.0047), without heart failure (HR = 0.84; 95% CI 0.73–0.96; P = 0.0106), without end stage renal disease (HR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.77–0.95; P = 0.0035), and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR = 0.87; 95% CI 0.78–0.97; P = 0.0096).

Conclusions

DPP-4 inhibitor therapy improved long-term survival in diabetic patients after first AMI, regardless of gender.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and the ischemic heart: Additional benefits beyond glycemic control

Obese-insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have become global health problems, and they are both associated with a higher risk of ischemic heart disease. Although reperfusion therapy is the treatment to increase blood supply to the ischemic myocardium, this intervention potentially causes cardiac tissue damage and instigates arrhythmias, processes known as reperfusion injury. Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are glycemic control drugs commonly used in T2DM patients. Growing evidence from basic and clinical studies demonstrates that a DPP-4 inhibitor could exert cardioprotection and improve left ventricular function by reducing oxidative stress, apoptosis, and increasing reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) activity. However, recent reports also showed potentially adverse cardiac events due to the use of a DPP-4 inhibitor. To investigate this disparity, future large clinical trials are essential in verifying whether DPP-4 inhibitors are beneficial beyond their glycemic control particularly for the ischemic heart in obese-insulin resistant subjects and T2DM patients.