title: Insulin combined with Chinese medicine improves glycemic outcome through multiple pathways in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Insufficient insulin secretion or inefficient insulin response are responsible for the clinical outcome of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Administration of insulin alone is prone to cause secondary effects, resulting in an unsatisfactory outcome. Shen-Qi-Formula (SQF), a well-known Chinese medicinal formula, has been used for diabetic treatment for a long time. The present study was designed to investigate whether SQF in combination with insulin improved the clinical outcome of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and what mechanisms were possibly involved in the treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 219 patients were included in the study. Of these, 110 patients were treated with insulin monotherapy, and 109 with the combination therapy of SQF and insulin. Before and after 12-week treatment, the fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, β-cell function, insulin resistance and blood lipids were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 12 weeks of SQF treatment in combination with insulin significantly decreased the fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels. Insulin secretion was not increased after the treatment, but β-cell function and insulin resistance were obviously improved. Furthermore, 12 weeks of treatment with SQF and insulin improved the levels of glucagon-like peptide-1, oxidative stress, blood lipids, coagulation function and bodyweight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results from our study showed that the combination therapy of SQF and insulin significantly improved the clinical outcome of type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with insulin monotherapy. The mechanism of improvement was possibly involved in the multiple pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xinxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Daqian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Chunguang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: Insulin; Shen-Qi-Formulas; Type 2 diabetes