Use
Vildagliptin, a DPP-4 inhibitor, was launched for the oral treatment of type 2 diabetes. Vildagliptin is the second DPP-4 inhibitor to reach the market behind sitagliptin, which was introduced in 2006. DPP-4 inhibitors act by slowing the inactivation of incretins, which are endogenous peptides involved in the physiologic regulation of glucose homeostasis. When blood glucose concentrations are normal or elevated, GLP-1 and GIP increase the synthesis and release of insulin from pancreatic βcells via intracellular signaling pathways involving cAMP. GLP-1 also lowers glucagon secretion from pancreatic α cells, which leads to reduced hepatic glucose production. However, although GLP-1 and GIP effectively lower blood glucose, they are short-lived as a result of rapid inactivation by the ubiquitous serine protease DPP-4. By inhibiting DPP-4, vildagliptin increases the concentration and duration of active incretin levels, which in turn results in increased insulin release and decreased glucagon levels in a glucose-dependent manner. Both vildagliptin and sitagliptin are potent, competitive, reversible inhibitors of DPP- 4 (IC50=3.5 and 18 nM, respectively), and they both show slow, tight-binding inhibition kinetics.