The use of glimepiride for the treatment of neonatal diabetes mellitus caused by a novel mutation of the ABCC8 gene.

OBJECTIVES

Neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) is a rare form of monogenic diabetes that is usually diagnosed in the first six months of life.

CASE PRESENTATION: We report on a male infant with neonatal diabetes who presented with diabetic ketoacidosis at two months and 16 days. A novel homozygous missense mutation (c.259T>G) was identified in the ABCC8 gene. In this case, insulin was replaced with glimepiride at a dosage of 0.49 mg/kg/day at five months, and this achieved metabolic control and satisfactory growth as observed at follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

This report improves our understanding of the mutational spectrum of ABCC8, which is normally associated with NDM, and shows that the treatment regimen for this condition can be successfully switched from insulin therapy to the use of sulfonylurea.