The Impact of Lixisenatide on Postprandial Glucose Tolerance in Pancreatectomised Subjects

Overview

Postprandial glucose (PPG) excursions are not only determined by insulin-mediated glucose disposal and endogenous glucose production (regulated by insulin and glucagon); also the rate of gastric emptying constitutes an important determinant of PPG levels 1. The short-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist lixisenatide is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. It increases glucose-dependent insulin secretion, suppresses glucagon secretion and reduces gastric emptying of meals 2. These three mechanisms most likely constitute the weightiest mechanisms behind the potent impact of lixisenatide on exaggerated PPG excursions in patients with type 2 diabetes - which often are normalised during lixisenatide treatment 3. However, the separate impact of lixisenatide-induced reduction of gastric emptying (independently of the pancreatic effects) has been difficult to determine. Importantly, treatment with lixisenatide also decreases appetite and food intake and may, like native GLP-1, increase energy expenditure 4. So far an exact demarcation of the pancreatic and extrapancreatic effects of lixisenatide in humans remains to be established. The present project serves to determine whether effects of lixisenatide on gastric emptying, appetite, food intake and resting energy expenditure are dependent on the endocrine pancreas. The study is a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, cross-over study. 12 healthy persons and 12 pancreatectomized patients (i.e. patients who have had their pancreata removed due to pancreatic cancer or severe chronic pancreatitis) will be subjected to two experimental days on which they will undergo a liquid meal test followed by a fasting period and finished off with an ad libitum meal with lixisenatide and placebo, respectively.