Increased serum soluble leptin receptor levels in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated whether or not serum levels of the soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R) and leptin are related to anthropometric and metabolic changes during pubertal development of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.


METHODS
Blood levels of sOB-R, leptin and HbA1C, as well as body-mass index (BMI), diabetes duration and daily insulin doses, were determined in 212 (97 girls; 115 boys) children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and compared with the sOB-R serum levels in 526 healthy children and adolescents.


RESULTS
OB-R serum levels and parallel values of the molar ratio between sOB-R and leptin were significantly higher in children with diabetes than in normal children (P<0.05) in almost all investigated Tanner stages. Furthermore, in the entire group of patients, we demonstrated statistically significant correlations (P<0.02) between sOB-R and the duration of diabetes (r=0.30), HbA1c levels (r=0.32) and the insulin dose (r=0.18). Multiple-regression analysis revealed that HbA1c (12.4%), height (7.9%) and duration of diabetes (8.7%) contributed to 29% variance of sOB-R in diabetic children.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that poor glycemic control in diabetes may lead to increased serum levels of sOB-R. This regulation of sOB-R appears to be independent of leptin, but may have an impact on leptin action. The consequently developing molar excess of sOB-R related to leptin could reduce leptin sensitivity and may, therefore, influence leptin-related anthropometric and metabolic abnormalities.
Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. kraj@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
J
J
Kratzsch
A
A
Deimel
A
A
Galler
T
T
Kapellen
A
A
Klinghammer
W
W
Kiess
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000097:blood*; D054411:Receptors, Leptin; D012995:Solubility
C515448:LEPR protein, human; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D054411:Receptors, Leptin