•  
  •  
 

Subject Area

Internal Medicine

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the role of serum dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and in chronic hepatitis C infection patients. Methods Our data sources were Medline databases (PubMed, Medscape, and Science Direct; EMF Portal). Articles with values of serum DPP-4 in patients with DM and in chronic hepatitis C patients from Medline databases were selected. We used the following search terms: DPP4/DM/HCV/GLP1/insulin resistance/fatty liver/antiviral drugs. The initial search presented nine articles, of which five met inclusion criteria. The articles studied the value of serum DPP-4 in patients with DM and in chronic hepatitis C patients. If the studies did not fulfill inclusion criteria, they were excluded. Study quality assessment included whether ethics approval was gained, eligibility criteria were specified, appropriate controls were used, and whether adequate information and defined assessment measures were provided. Comparisons were made by a structured review with the results tabulated. Results In total, nine potentially relevant publications were included. Some studies indicated that the serum DPP-4 activity was not increased in type 2 diabetes, provided that patients with liver disease were intentionally excluded, whereas similar to our findings several studies support increased DPP-4 activity in type 2 diabetes patients. However, the cause for the increase in DPP-4 activity in diabetic patients remains unclear. Conclusion Serum DPP-4 activity in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus strongly suggests that serum DPP-4 is a novel biomarker of chronic hepatitis C virus, irrespective of the presence of DM.

Download

Share

COinS