Placebo-controlled randomised trial with liraglutide on magnetic resonance endpoints in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a pre-specified secondary study on ectopic fat accumulation

The aim of this work was to assess the effect of liraglutide on ectopic fat accumulation in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study is a pre-specified subanalysis of the MAGNetic resonance Assessment of VICTOza efficacy in the Regression of cardiovascular dysfunction In type 2 diAbetes mellitus (MAGNA VICTORIA) study, with primary endpoints being the effects of liraglutide on left ventricular diastolic and systolic function. The MAGNA VICTORIA study was a single-centre, parallel-group trial in 50 individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (BMI >25 kg/m²) who were randomly assigned (1:1, stratified for sex and insulin use) to receive liraglutide 1.8 mg once daily or placebo for 26 weeks, added to standard care. Participants, study personnel and outcome assessors were blinded to treatment allocation. The secondary endpoints of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and epicardial fat were measured with MRI. Hepatic triacylglycerol content (HTGC) and myocardial triacylglycerol content (MTGC) were quantified with proton MR spectroscopy. Between-group differences (change from baseline) were tested for significance using ANCOVA. Mean differences with 95% CIs were reported.

The trial was completed in 2016. Twenty-four participants were randomised to receive liraglutide and 26 to receive placebo. One patient in the liraglutide group withdrew consent before having received the study drug and was not included in the intention-to-treat analysis. Liraglutide (n = 23) vs placebo (n = 26) significantly reduced body weight (liraglutide 98.4 ± 13.8 kg to 94.3 ± 14.9 kg; placebo 94.5 ± 13.1 kg to 93.9 ± 13.2 kg; estimated treatment effect −4.5 [95% CI −6.4, −2.6] kg). HbA_1c declined in both groups without a significant treatment effect of liraglutide vs placebo (liraglutide 66.7 ± 11.5 mmol/mol to 55.0 ± 13.2 mmol/mol [8.4 ± 1.1% to 7.3 ± 1.2%]; placebo 64.7 ± 10.2 mmol/mol to 56.9 ± 6.9 mmol/mol [8.2 ± 1.0% to 7.5 ± 0.7%]; estimated treatment effect −2.9 [95% CI −8.1, 2.3] mmol/mol or −0.3 [95% CI −0.8, 0.2]%). VAT did not change significantly between groups (liraglutide 207 ± 87 cm² to 203 ± 88 cm²; placebo 204 ± 63 cm² to 200 ± 55 cm²; estimated treatment effect −7 [95% CI −24, 10] cm²), while SAT was reduced by a significantly greater extent with liraglutide than with placebo (liraglutide 361 ± 142 cm² to 339 ± 131 cm²; placebo 329 ± 107 cm² to 333 ± 125 cm²; estimated treatment effect −29 [95% CI −51, −8] cm²). Epicardial fat did not change significantly between groups (liraglutide 8.9 ± 4.3 cm² to 9.1 ± 4.7 cm²; placebo 9.6 ± 4.1 cm² to 9.6 ± 4.6 cm²; estimated treatment effect 0.2 [95% CI −1.5, 1.8] cm²). Change in HTGC was not different between groups (liraglutide 18.1 ± 11.2% to 12.0 ± 7.7%; placebo 18.4 ± 9.4% to 14.7 ± 10.0%; estimated treatment effect −2.1 [95% CI −5.3, 1.0]%). MTGC was not different after treatment with liraglutide (1.5 ± 0.6% to 1.2 ± 0.6%) vs placebo (1.3 ± 0.5% to 1.2 ± 0.6%), with an estimated treatment effect of −0.1 (95% CI −0.4, 0.2)%. There were no adjudicated serious adverse events.

Compared with placebo, liraglutide-treated participants lost significantly more body weight. Liraglutide primarily reduced subcutaneous fat but not visceral, hepatic, myocardial or epicardial fat. Future larger studies are needed to confirm the results of this secondary endpoint study.

ClinicalTrials.​gov NCT01761318.

This study was funded by Novo Nordisk A/S (Bagsvaerd, Denmark).