title: Effect of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors (sunitinib, sorafenib, dasatinib, and imatinib) on blood glucose levels in diabetic and nondiabetic patients in general clinical practice.
abstract: Tyrosine kinase is a key enzyme activity utilized in many intracellular messaging pathways. Understanding the role of particular tyrosine kinases in malignancies has allowed for the design of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), which can target these enzymes and interfere with downstream signaling. TKIs have proven to be successful in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor, and other malignancies. Scattered reports have suggested that these agents appear to affect blood glucose (BG). We retrospectively studied the BG concentrations in diabetic (17) and nondiabetic (61) patients treated with dasatinib (8), imatinib (39), sorafenib (23), and sunitinib (30) in our clinical practice. Mean declines of BG were dasatinib (53 mg/dL), imatinib (9 mg/dL), sorafenib (12 mg/dL), and sunitinib (14 mg/dL). All these declines in BG were statistically significant. Of note, 47% (8/17) of the patients with diabetes were able to discontinue their medications, including insulin in some patients. Only one diabetic patient developed symptomatic hypoglycemia while on sunitinib. The mechanism for the hypoglycemic effect of these drugs is unclear, but of the four agents tested, c-kit and PDGFRβ are the common target kinases. Clinicians should keep the potential hypoglycemic effects of these agents in mind; modification of hypoglycemic agents may be required in diabetic patients. These results also suggest that inhibition of a tyrosine kinase, be it c-kit, PDGFRβ or some other undefined target, may improve diabetes mellitus BG control and it deserves further study as a potential novel therapeutic option.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA 17033-0850, USA. nma109@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Agostino
authors.forename: Vernon M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Chinchilli
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koszyk-Szewczyk
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gingrich
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sivik
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Drabick
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001549:Benzamides; D001557:Benzenesulfonates / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000187:drug effects*; D000069439:Dasatinib; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D007211:Indoles / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D009536:Niacinamide / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010671:Phenylurea Compounds; D010879:Piperazines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D011725:Pyridines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D000077157:Sorafenib; D000077210:Sunitinib; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001549:Benzamides; D001557:Benzenesulfonates; D001786:Blood Glucose; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007211:Indoles; D010671:Phenylurea Compounds; D010879:Piperazines; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011725:Pyridines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D011758:Pyrroles; D013844:Thiazoles; D009536:Niacinamide; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D000077157:Sorafenib; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D000069439:Dasatinib; D000077210:Sunitinib