Levels of transforming growth factor beta 1 in south Indian type 2 diabetic subjects.
OBJECTIVE
The prosclerotic cytokine TGFbeta has been implicated as an important downstream mediator in the progression of the renal pathological changes occurring in diabetic patients. This study was undertaken to determine (1) whether serum levels of zTGFbeta1 was elevated in South Indian type 2 diabetic subjects and (2) whether treatment with oral hypoglycaemic agents/insulin and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) influenced TGFbeta1 levels in diabetic subjects.


METHODS
Among the 131 study subjects, 101 were consecutive type 2 diabetic patients and the other 30 subjects were non-diabetic, normoglycaemic (NGT, M : F 15 : 15) healthy subjects who had undergone an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) during medical checkup. TGFbeta1 was determined using solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
Mean serum TGFbeta1 levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.0001) in the type 2 diabetic subjects (30 +/- 13.1 ng/mL) when compared with the non-diabetic subjects (19 +/- 8.3 ng/mL). Diabetic subjects who were being treated with a combination of OHA and insulin (n = 53;25.6 +/- 11.5 ng/mL) had significantly (p = 0.0009) lower levels of TGFbeta1 when compared with those who were being treated with OHA alone (n = 48;34.1 +/- 13.4 ng/mL). Nearly 36% of the diabetic subjects were being treated with ACEI/ARB, and they had significantly (p = 0.01) lower levels of TGFbeta1 (n = 36;25.4 +/- 12.6 ng/mL) when compared with those who were not being treated with ACEI/ARB (n = 65;32 +/- 12.9 ng/mL).


CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrated significantly elevated TGFbeta1 levels in South Indian type 2 diabetic patients when compared with the non-diabetic subjects. Insulin and ACEI/ARB treatment appears to have a protective effect by lowering TGFbeta1 concentrations in these subjects.
Viswanathan
Vijay
V
Diabetes Research Centre, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research, Education and Training in Diabetes, Royapuram, Chennai, India. dr_vijay@vsnl.com
Snehalatha
C
C
Nair
Mamtha B
MB
Kumutha
R
R
Ramachandran
A
A
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D047228:Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007194:India; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
D047228:Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; D015415:Biomarkers; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin; C508960:TGFB1 protein, human; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1