Ipragliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor, reduces intrahepatic lipid content and abdominal visceral fat volume in patients with type 2 diabetes

Objective: We recently investigated the effect of ipragliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT-2I), in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes by a 24-week. SGLT-2Is also have an anti-obesity effect, and reduction of body fat has been demonstrated by indirect methods. However, evaluation of the effect on the total visceral fat volume and intrahepatic lipid content has not been performed.Research design and methods: We measured the abdominal subcutaneous fat volume (SFV) and visceral fat volume (VFV) by whole abdominal CT scanning, the intrahepatic lipid (IHL) content by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and the fat mass index (FI) and appendicular skeletal mass index (ASMI) by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 20 patients from our previous study.Results: Administration of ipragliflozin at 50mg/day for 24weeks significantly reduced SFV, VFV, and IHL. FI and ASMI were also significantly decreased. Changes of VFV and IHL content at 12weeks were significantly correlated with the change of HbA1c, but no correlation was observed at 24weeks.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that ipragliflozin decreases visceral and hepatic fat, with improvement of glycemic control possibly being attributable to these changes at least up to 12weeks.