Third-generation drugs include glimepiride, although it is sometimes considered a second-generation agent.
Medical uses
Sulfonylureas are used primarily for the treatment of diabetes mellitustype 2. Sulfonylureas are ineffective where there is absolute deficiency of insulin production such as in type 1 diabetes or post-pancreatectomy. Sulfonylureas can be used to treat some types of neonatal diabetes. While historically, people with hyperglycemia and low blood insulin levels were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes by default, it has been found that patients who receive this diagnosis before 6 months of age are often, in fact, candidates for receiving sulfonylureas rather than insulin throughout life. While prior sulfonylureas were associated with worse outcomes, newer agents do not appear to increase the risk of death, heart attacks, or strokes.
Side effects
Sulfonylureas – as opposed to metformin, the thiazolidinediones, exenatide, pramlintide and other newer treatments – agents may induce hypoglycemia as a result of excesses in insulin production and release. This typically occurs if the dose is too high, and the patient is fasting. Some people attempt to change eating habits to prevent this, however it can be counter productive. Like insulin, sulfonylureas can induce weight gain, mainly as a result of their effect to increase insulin levels and thus utilization of glucose and other metabolic fuels. Other side-effects are: gastrointestinal upset, headache and hypersensitivity reactions. The safety of sulfonylurea therapy in pregnancy is unestablished. Prolonged hypoglycemia has been reported in children borne to mothers taking sulfonylureas at the time of delivery. Impairment of liver or kidney function increase the risk of hypoglycemia, and are contraindications. Since other antidiabetic drugs cannot be used either under these circumstances, insulin therapy is typically recommended during pregnancy and in liver and kidney failure, although some of the newer agents offer potentially better options. A 2014 Cochrane review found tentative evidence that people treated with sulfonylureas have fewer non-fatal cardiovascular events than those treated with metformin but a higher risk of severe hypoglycemia. There was not enough data available to determine the risk of mortality or of cardiovascular mortality. An earlier review by the same group found a statistically significant increase in the risk of cardiovascular death for first generation sulfonylureas relative to placebo but there was not enough data to determine the relative risk of first generation sulfonylureas relative to insulin. Likewise it was not possible to determine the relative mortality risk of second generation sulfonylureas relative to metformin, insulin, or placebo. The FDA requires sulfonylureas to carry a label warning regarding increased risk of cardiovascular death. Second-generation sulfonylureas have increased potency by weight, compared to first-generation sulfonylureas. Similarly, ACCORD and the VADT studies showed no reduction in heart attack or death in patients assigned to tight glucose control with various drugs.
Interactions
Drugs that potentiate or prolong the effects of sulfonylureas and therefore increase the risk of hypoglycemia include acetylsalicylic acid and derivatives, allopurinol, sulfonamides, and fibrates. Drugs that worsen glucose tolerance, contravening the effects of antidiabetics, include corticosteroids, isoniazid, oral contraceptives and other estrogens, sympathomimetics, and thyroid hormones. Sulfonylureas tend to interact with a wide variety of other drugs, but these interactions, as well as their clinical significance, vary from substance to substance.
Structure
All pharmacological sulfonylureas contain a central S-arylsulfonylurea structure with a p-substituent on the phenyl ring and various groups terminating the urea N′ end group. Chemically, this functionality can be easily installed by reacting aryl sulfonamides with isocyanates.
Mechanism of action
Sulfonylureas bind to and close ATP-sensitive K+ channels on the cell membrane of pancreatic beta cells, which depolarizes the cell by preventing potassium from exiting. This depolarization opens voltage-gated Ca2+ channels. The rise in intracellular calcium leads to increased fusion of insulin granulae with the cell membrane, and therefore increased secretion of mature insulin. There is some evidence that sulfonylureas also sensitize β-cells to glucose, that they limit glucose production in the liver, that they decrease lipolysis and decrease clearance of insulin by the liver. The KATP channel is an octameric complex of the inward-rectifier potassium ion channel Kir6.x and sulfonylurea receptor SUR which associate with a stoichiometry of 4:4. Furthermore, it has been shown that sulfonylureas interact with the nucleotide exchange factorEpac2. Mice lacking this factor exhibited a decreased glucose-lowering effect upon sulfonylurea treatment.
History
Sulfonylureas were discovered, in 1942, by the chemist Marcel Janbon and co-workers, who were studying sulfonamide antibiotics and discovered that the compound sulfonylurea induced hypoglycemia in animals.
