Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide therapy for psoriasis patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized-controlled trial

Abstract

Objective

There were some clinical studies on GLP-1R agonist liraglutide therapy for psoriasis patients with type 2 diabetes, but there is a lack of randomized controlled trials and the mechanism of which remains unclear.

Method

A total of 25 psoriasis patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized 1: 1 divided into the control group (n = 13) or liraglutide group (n = 12) for 12 weeks. We determined the PASI, the DLQI, histopathology of psoriasis skin, and the expression of IL-17, IL-23, and TNF-α in the psoriasis skin.

Results

After 12 weeks of treatment, the mean DLQI of the treatment group decreased from 22.00 ± 5.85 to 3.82 ± 3.60 (p < .05). Compared to week 12, the change in the baseline value of PASI and DLQI in the treatment group showed a significant difference compared with the control group (p < .05). The pathological changes of psoriasis skin and the expression of IL-17, IL-23, TNF-α in the psoriasis skin were improved in the treatment group. No serious adverse events occurred.

Conclusion

The skin lesions in psoriasis patients with type 2 diabetes were significantly improved after treatment with liraglutide, which may be related to the inhibition of the expression of inflammatory factors such as IL-23, IL-17, and TNF-α.

Keywords:

• Psoriasis
• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• liraglutide

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Fuzhou General Hospital [SC-2017-007]. The project is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81770886] and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province [2017Y0072]. The study was registered at Clinical Trials.Gov (registration number ChiCTR1800015296).