Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Diabetes

Anti-PCSK9 antibodies — beneficial or inducers of diabetes?

A recent study has shown that evolocumab, an injectable monoclonal antibody directed against proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), robustly reduces levels of LDL cholesterol and decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with and without diabetes mellitus. When given on top of statins, evolocumab does not induce diabetes mellitus.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Shepherd, J. et al. Effect of lowering LDL cholesterol substantially below currently recommended levels in patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes: the Treating to New Targets (TNT) study. Diabetes Care 29, 1220–1226 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang, X. L. et al. Safety and efficacy of anti-PCSK9 antibodies: a meta-analysis of 25 randomized, controlled trials. BMC Med. 13, 123 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Giugliano, R. P. et al. Clinical efficacy and safety of achieving very low LDL-cholesterol concentrations with the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab: a prespecified secondary analysis of the FOURIER trial. Lancet http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32290-0 (2017).

  4. Sabatine, M. S. et al. Cardiovascular safety and efficacy of the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab in patients with and without diabetes and the effect of evolocumab on glycaemia and risk of new-onset diabetes: a prespecified analysis of the FOURIER randomised controlled trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30313-3 (2017).

  5. Dormuth, C. R. et al. Higher potency statins and the risk of new diabetes: multicentre, observational study of administrative databases. BMJ 348, g3244 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kohli, P. et al. Risk of new-onset diabetes and cardiovascular risk reduction from high-dose statin therapy in pre-diabetics and non-pre-diabetics: an analysis from TNT and IDEAL. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 65, 402–404 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kazi, D. S. et al. Updated cost-effectiveness analysis of PCSK9 inhibitors based on the results of the FOURIER trial. JAMA 318, 748–750 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fonarow, G. C. et al. Cost-effectiveness of evolocumab therapy for reducing cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. JAMA Cardiol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamacardio.2017.2762 (2017).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Kees Hovingh.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

R.V. declares no competing interests. G.K.H. has participated in advisory boards for and has received lecture fees (for lectures on lipid-lowering therapy in general) from Amgen, Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron, and has received lecture fees (for lectures about lipid-lowering therapy in general) from Pfizer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Verbeek, R., Hovingh, G. Anti-PCSK9 antibodies — beneficial or inducers of diabetes?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 13, 694–695 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.145

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.145

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing