Association of antidiabetic therapy with shortened telomere length in middle-aged Type 2 diabetic patients.

INTRODUCTION: A wide range of antidiabetic therapies have been developed to manage diabetes and limit its lifespan but each of them have adverse long-term drug reactions. This study was performed for the investigation of the possible association of antidiabetic therapy with shortened telomere length in middle-aged Type 2 diabetic patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects in this case-control study included 100 non-diabetic patients and 300 patients with Type 2 diabetes with ages in the range of 30-50 years. The treated patients were further subdivided into diabetic patients using Doanil, those using insulin and those using both the therapies. The mean telomere length was determined using the southern-blotting technique. A logistic regression analysis was performed to predict the relationship between antidiabetic therapy and shortened telomere length.
RESULTS: The results revealed a significant increase (P < 0.01) in the fasting blood glucose and lipid profile in non-treatment diabetic patients compared to diabetic patients with treatment, and also in diabetic patients with insulin therapy, compared to diabetic patients with Doanil or both therapies. The results showed that non-treatment diabetic patients had shorter telomere length, compared to the diabetic patients with treatment, and patients treated with insulin therapy had shorter telomere length, compared to the diabetic patients with Doanil or both therapies. The logistic regression analysis confirmed that insulin therapy was closely related to diabetic risk factors and shortened telomere length.
CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that Doanil therapy was more effective in managing diabetic risk and limiting the shortening telomere length than insulin therapy. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.