Therapeutic Effects of Semaglutide on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Obesity: An Open-Label Controlled Trial

• Published in: Diseases 2024-08, Vol.12 (8), p.186
• Main Authors: Gad, Ahmed I, Ibrahim, Nevin F, Almadani, Noura, Mahfouz, Rasha, Nofal, Hanaa A, El-Rafey, Dina S, Ali, Hossam Tharwat, El-Hawary, Amr T, Sadek, Ayman M E M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body fat; Body mass index; Body weight; clinical trial; Clinical trials; Comorbid patients; Complications; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes therapy; Drug dosages; Drug therapy; Fatty liver; FDA approval; Fibrosis; Gastrointestinal surgery; GLP-1; Glucagon; Health aspects; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; High density lipoprotein; Insulin resistance; Lipids; Liraglutide; Liver diseases; Magnetic resonance imaging; Metabolic syndrome; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Obesity; Patient outcomes; Pioglitazone; semaglutide; Statistical analysis; Steatosis; Type 2 diabetes; type 2 diabetes mellitus; Vitamin E; Weight control
• ISSN: 2079-9721; 2079-9721
• DOI: 10.3390/diseases12080186

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have been shown to improve glycemic control and insulin sensitivity and reduce body weight in obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). This trial sought to evaluate the therapeutic effect of oral and subcutaneous semaglutide in NAFLD and its sequelae in obesity and/or T2D. In an open-labelled intervention study, the sample was 180 patients classified into three parallel groups (1:1:1): group I received oral semaglutide, group II patients received injectable semaglutide, and group III received pioglitazone and/or vitamin E. Patients were evaluated at 6 and 12 months. There was a substantial improvement in lipid profile, liver enzymes, and body mass index, especially in group II. As for HDL, only group II showed a consistent increase at both 6 months (51 ± 4.62 mg/dL) and 12 months (50.08 ± 2.45 mg/dL) compared with baseline (45.6 ± 6.37 mg/dL) ( -value < 0.001). Despite the non-significant difference in NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS) ( -value = 0.45 and 0.63), group II had significantly lower scores of the fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4), liver stiffness measurement (LSM), and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) at 6 and 12 months ( -value < 0.001). Semaglutide improves lipid profile, liver steatosis, and fibrosis parameters and reduces the BMI in T2D and obese patients with NAFLD.