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REVIEW article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Comparative and Clinical Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1480977

Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors: A pleiotropic drug in humans with promising results in cats

Provisionally accepted
Aline B Vieira Aline B Vieira 1*Bianca T Ciambarella Bianca T Ciambarella 2Sarah M Cavanaugh Sarah M Cavanaugh 3Marcus V Machado Marcus V Machado 4
  • 1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
  • 2 Laboratory of Ultrastructure and Tissue Biology, Biology Institute, Anatomy Department, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 3 Department of Clinical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • 4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic disease in humans and cats. Cats share several features of human type-2 diabetes and can be considered an animal model for this disease. In the last decade, sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been used successfully as a class of hypoglycemic drug that inhibits the reabsorption of glucose from the renal proximal tubules, consequently managing hyperglycemia through glycosuria. Furthermore, SGLT2i have been shown to have cardiac, renal, and other protective effects in diabetic humans acting as a pleiotropic drug. Currently, at least six SGLT2i are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans with type-2 diabetes, and recently, two drugs were approved for use in diabetic cats. This narrative review focuses on the use of SGLT2i to treat diabetes mellitus in humans and cats. We summarize the human data that support the use of SGLT2i in controlling type-2 diabetes and protecting against cardiovascular and renal damage. We also review the available literature regarding other benefits of these drugs in humans as well as the effects of SGLT2i in cats. Adverse effects related to the use of these hypoglycemic drugs are also discussed.

    Keywords: feline diabetes mellitus1, type-2 diabetes mellitus2, Bexagliflozin, velagliflozin, kidney disease, Heart disease, cognitive dysfunction, Glucose Transporters

    Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Vieira, Ciambarella, Cavanaugh and Machado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Aline B Vieira, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.