BACKGROUND: Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, has well known beneficial effects on glucose metabolism, and animal studies indicate that liraglutide also affects bone turnover by decreasing bone resorption. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the effect of liraglutide on bone turnover in patients with T2D.

METHODS: The study was a randomized, double-blinded, clinical trial. Sixty participants with T2D were randomized to treatment with liraglutide 1.8 mg daily or placebo for 26 weeks. The primary endpoint was change in p-collagen I cross-linked C-terminal telopeptide (p-CTX).

RESULTS: P-CTX increased in patients treated with liraglutide by 0.07 (0.03; 0.10) μg/L (p < 0.001) and in patients treated with placebo by 0.03 (0.00; 0.06) μg/L (p = 0.04), however, changes were not different between the groups (p = 0.16). Weight decreased in patients treated with liraglutide from baseline to week four (p < 0.001) and remained stable thereafter. P-procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide (P1NP) decreased in patients treated with liraglutide from baseline to week four (p < 0.01), increased between weeks 4 and 13 (p = 0.03), and remained elevated thereafter. Weight and p-P1NP did not change in patients treated with placebo. Hip bone mineral density (BMD) decreased in placebo treated patients from baseline to end of study, whereas no changes were seen in patients treated with liraglutide (p = 0.01 difference between groups).

CONCLUSION: Liraglutide treatment for 26 weeks did not affect bone resorption and preserved hip BMD despite weight loss in patients with T2D, suggesting that liraglutide has some antiresorptive effect.