Dulaglutide and Dapagliflozin Together Improve Blood Vessel Lining and Heart Function in Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Kidney Protein Compared to DPP-4 Inhibitors

After twelve months, dual therapy with dulaglutide and dapagliflozin led to greater improvements in endothelial function, arterial stiffness, and albuminuria compared to DPP-4 inhibitors.

• The dual therapy reduced the perfused boundary region of sublingual arterial microvessels from 2.10 ± 0.31 to 1.93 ± 0.23 μm, while DPP-4 inhibitors showed minimal change.
• Albuminuria decreased from 326 ± 61 to 142 ± 47 mg/g in the dual therapy group, compared to a reduction from 345 ± 48 to 306 ± 60 mg/g in the DPP-4i group.
• Pulse wave velocity improved from 11.77 ± 2.37 to 10.7 ± 2.29 m/s with dual therapy, whereas the change was less significant for DPP-4 inhibitors.
• Central systolic blood pressure decreased significantly only in the dual therapy group, from 130.21 ± 17.23 to 123.36 ± 18.42 mmHg.
• Both treatments improved global left ventricular longitudinal strain, but the dual therapy had a significantly higher improvement (18.19% vs. 6.01%).
• The observed effects were independent of glycemic control.

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