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Diabetes mellitus

Cardiovascular and renal benefits of SGLT2 inhibition: insights from CANVAS

Inhibitors of renal sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) are new anti-hyperglycaemic drugs that reduce proximal tubular glucose and sodium reabsorption. The Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS) Program is the second major trial to demonstrate beneficial effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on the kidney and cardiovascular system in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Figure 1: Mechanisms of renal and cardiovascular protection by SGLT2 inhibition.

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Correspondence to Volker Vallon.

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Competing interests

Over the past 36 months, V.V. has served as a consultant and received honoraria from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Intarcia Therapeutics, Astra-Zeneca, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly and Merck, and received grant support for investigator-initiated research from Astra-Zeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fresenius, and Janssen. Over the past 36 months, S.C.T. has received research support from Merck and Pfizer. These companies were not involved in the development or writing of this commentary.

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Vallon, V., Thomson, S. Cardiovascular and renal benefits of SGLT2 inhibition: insights from CANVAS. Nat Rev Nephrol 13, 517–518 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2017.113

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