Metformin

 www.sciencedirect.com

A 3-month treatment with Metformin in newly diagnosed Type-2 Diabetics (T2DM) demonstrated an association with improved glucose control (HbA1c) and reduction in Th1 & Th17-mediated inflammation.

 Over these 3-4 days (definition of “a few”), I shall highlight several drugs whose mode of action and efficacy in various rheumatic diseases have piqued my interest.
Vitamin D, and perhaps fish oils, would have been on my list, except that they are not prescription meds. Besides, I’ve devoted much space to them in earlier posts.

Metformin is mainly used in T2DM to reduce insulin resistance, but it also found to be effective in seemingly unrelated conditions like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Lately, emerging evidence suggests it may play a role in reducing inflammation, hence possibly finding utility in both inflammatory and metabolic disorders.


A Few Good Meds #1: METFORMIN downregulates Th17 cells differentiation in murine autoimmune arthritis

This study was undertaken to determine whether metformin has anti-inflammatory effects in the collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) murine model. The effect of metformin on Th17 cell differentiation was also investigated.
sciencedirect.com


A Few Good Meds #1: METFORMIN modifies Gut Microbiota & modulates Metabolism

Metformin is commonly used as the first line of medication for treatment of metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recently, metformin-induced changes in the gut microbiota…
researchgate.net

Gut Microbiota and Metabolic Disorders

Gut microbiota plays critical physiological roles in the energy extraction and in the control of local or…
Metformin, a biguanide derivate, has pleiotropic effects beyond glucose reduction, including improvement of lipid profiles and lowering microvascular and macrovascular complications associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). These effects have been ascribed to adenosine monophosphate-activated…
journals.plos.org

Gut processing of Metformin, involving interplay of bile acids, gut hormones and microbiota, is a significant mode of action in glucose homeostasis, apart from the traditional hepatic and muscular AMPK pathway.


A Few Good Meds #1: Metformin in Metabolism, Inflammation, Subfertility & Cancer

         Figure 1          Figure 2          Figure 3
Improvements in healthcare and nutrition have generated remarkable increases in life expectancy worldwide. This is one of the greatest achievements of the modern world yet it also presents a grave challenge: as more people survive into later life, more …
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The recent discovery of its Th17 inhibitory role, and its microbiome-mediated metabolic effects help explain its pleiotropic efficacies in immune and metabolic disorders.

Anecdotally, I have seen my T2DM patients’ psoriasis improve on Metformin, reinforcing my belief that Psoriasis (and perhaps PsA) amd the Metabolic Syndrome are pathogenically linked.