K. P. Zak*, O. V. Furmanova, V. V. Popova, Ya. A. Sayenko

SI “V.P. Komisarenko Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of National Academia of Medical Sciences of Ukraine”, Kyiv;
*e-mail: kpzak2017@gmail.com

Received: 28 February 2020; Accepted: 13 November 2020

Currently the world society is extremely worried about the global increase in the number of patients with diabetes on our planet. Annually 4 million people die of this disease, and the cost of its treatment reaches trillions of dollars. A new highly effective oral antidiabetic drug  metformin (1,1-dimethylbiguanide hydrochloride) is one of the most common hypoglycemic remedies  currently prescribed for the first-line treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the mechanism of its curative effect is still not clear. The results of our study showed  that metformin treatment of patients with newly diagnosed T2D was followed by  pronounced normalization of  the increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A and TNFα),  inflammation indexes and lymphocyte’s immunophenotype. The obtained data confirm the existing hypothesis about the inflammatory nature of T2D and indicate that the immune system, in particular proinflammatory cytokines, plays a significant role in the mechanism of the curative effect of metformin at  T2D.