Metformin, metabolomics and inflammation in gestational diabetes
Abstract
Gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy complication that increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and predicts long-term metabolic morbidity for the mother and the offspring. Gestational diabetes is treated with lifestyle modifications and metformin or insulin if needed. Besides hyperglycemia, gestational diabetes is associated with broad disturbances in lipid and amino acid metabolism and lowgrade inflammation. The effects of metformin on these changes compared to insulin are not fully known. In this secondary analysis of a previous randomized trial in gestational diabetes, the effects of metformin (n = 110) and insulin (n = 107) treatments were studied on the maternal metabolome, inflammatory marker profile and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 phosphoisoforms. Patients (n = 126) not requiring antihyperglycemic medication were included as a reference group at the time of randomization to medical treatment groups. Umbilical cord blood samples were drawn after delivery in all three groups to study the effects of metformin on the fetal metabolome. Metformin treatment led to a greater increase in maternal serum alanine, total triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein triglycerides and total fatty acids than insulin. In the cord serum metabolome, only alanine was significantly higher in the metformin group. Maternal lipids, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the apolipoprotein B to A-1 ratio in particular, were related to an increased birth…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 126 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.