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Tumour Risk with Once-Weekly Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Background and Objective

Once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are a novel class of injectable antidiabetic drugs. Previous studies indicated that GLP-1RAs (exenatide and liraglutide) might increase the incidence of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Here, we evaluated the clinical safety of once-weekly GLP-1RAs with respect to tumour risk.

Methods

Relevant studies were selected from ClinicalTrials.gov. Randomized controlled trials that reported the incidences of neoplasms were included in our research. Outcomes were calculated as the risk ratio using the Mantel–Haenszel method and fixed-effects model.

Results

Our analysis included 26 randomized controlled trials with 16,090 patients. Once-weekly GLP-1RAs did not increase the risk for tumours compared with other antidiabetic drugs [risk ratio (RR), 1.02; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.74–1.41; p = 0.91]; this finding was independent of the type of GLP-1RA administered (albiglutide, exenatide extended-release and dulaglutide) and duration of the trials (limited to ≥52 weeks). Subgroup analyses revealed that once-weekly GLP-1RAs did not increase tumour risk compared with placebos, exenatide and liraglutide, insulin or oral drugs. Additionally, once-weekly GLP-1RAs did not increase tumour risk in any tissue.

Conclusions

Compared with other antidiabetic drugs, once-weekly GLP-1RAs did not increase the risk for any tumour, and this finding was independent of the type of GLP-1RA administered and treatment duration. However, our study had many limitations, and further longer term trials with larger samples should be conducted in future to confirm our results.

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Acknowledgments

Fupeng Liu would like to acknowledge the support from The China Scholarship Council.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intensive Care Unit, Tengnan Hospital of Zaozhuang Mining Group, Shandong, China

    Xia Guo

  2. Department of Medicine, Maternal and Child Care Service Centre of Tengzhou City, Shandong, China

    Qing Yang

  3. Department of Medicine, East Campus, Qilu Hospital, Shandong, China

    Jianjun Dong

  4. Department of Endocrinology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong University, Shandong, China

    Lin Liao

  5. Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology, Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Freiburg, Hugstetter Strasse 55, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Weiwei Zhang & Fupeng Liu

  6. Department of Endocrinology, Tengzhou Central People’s Hospital, Shandong, China

    Fupeng Liu

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  1. Xia Guo
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Correspondence to Fupeng Liu.

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This study received no external funding.

Conflict of interest

XG, QY, JD, LL, WZ and FL have no financial conflicts of interest to declare.

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Guo, X., Yang, Q., Dong, J. et al. Tumour Risk with Once-Weekly Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Systematic Review. Clin Drug Investig 36, 433–441 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-016-0389-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-016-0389-8

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