Human adenovirus 36 (HAdV-36) has been associated with obesity and changes in glucose and lipid metabolism. The virus has been reported to increase insulin sensitivity and paradoxically promote weight gain. Because of its effects on metabolism, infection with the virus could alter the response to several drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes (DM2), such as metformin. The aim of this study was to test whether HAdV-36 affects the response to metformin in a group of obese patients with DM2.
Methods: In a prospective cohort study, 103 obese patients with newly diagnosed DM2 were divided into two groups based on their HAdV-36 seropositivity (+HAdV-36 and -HAdV-36). Weight, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist and hip circumference were measured and compared in both groups at baseline and after 45 days of metformin treatment.
Results: Only glucose was significantly lower in the +HAdV-36 group at baseline, while all other variables were similar between the two study groups. After 45 days of follow-up, it was observed that the effect of metformin did not differ between the groups, but the variables improved significantly after treatment.
Conclusions: In this study, we did not find that HAdV-36 had an effect on the response to metformin in obese patients with DM2.
Keywords: human adenovirus-36; response to metformin; type 2 diabetes.