Serum interleukin-6 levels and bone mineral density at the femoral neck in post-menopausal women with Type 1 diabetes.
BACKGROUND
Although osteopenia is often reported in Type 1 diabetes mellitus, the pathogenic mechanisms are not fully understood. Oestrogen deficiency also leads to decreased bone mineral density (BMD). Enhanced interleukin-6 (IL-6) production among Type 1 diabetic patients could be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic bone loss since it is a potent bone resorbing cytokine.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the relationship between serum bioactive IL-6 levels and BMD at the femoral neck of post-menopausal women with Type 1 diabetes.


METHODS
We studied BMD, urine excretion of deoxypirydynoline crosslinks, serum bioactive IL-6 and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) levels in 20 post-menopausal women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, and compared these results with 20 matched healthy post-menopausal controls.


RESULTS
Post-menopausal women with Type 1 diabetes had significantly lower BMD at the femoral neck and increased serum bioactive IL-6 levels compared with the control group, but no relationship was observed between these variables in a multiple regression analysis. Using BMD at the femoral neck of diabetic women as the dependent variable in the multiple step regression analysis model, we found that independent variables that were strongly associated with bone mass at the femoral neck in this group were: time since menopause and duration of diabetes.


CONCLUSIONS
Although our study had a small sample size, we found that post-menopausal women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus present lower bone mass and higher serum bioactive IL-6 levels than matched healthy controls, but we were unable to find a correlation between these two parameters.
Rachoń
D
D
Department of Immunology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Myśliwska
J
J
Suchecka-Rachoń
K
K
Semetkowska-Jurkiewicz
B
B
Zorena
K
K
Łysiak-Szydłowska
W
W
D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D001862:Bone Resorption / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006131:Growth Inhibitors / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008593:Menopause / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D019947:Receptors, Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors
D006131:Growth Inhibitors; D015850:Interleukin-6; D019947:Receptors, Interleukin-6