title: C-Peptide and atherogenesis: C-Peptide as a mediator of lesion development in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus?
abstract: Patients with insulin resistance and early type 2 diabetes exhibit an increased propensity to develop a diffuse and extensive pattern of arteriosclerosis. Typically, these patients show increased levels of C-peptide and over the last years various groups examined the effect of C-peptide in vascular cells as well as its potential role in lesion development. While some studies demonstrated beneficial effects of C-peptide, for example, by showing an inhibition of smooth muscle cell proliferation, others suggested proatherogenic mechanisms in patients with type 2 diabetes. Among them, C-peptide may facilitate the recruitment of inflammatory cells into early lesions and promote lesion progression by inducing smooth muscle cell proliferation. The following review will summarize the effects of C-peptide in vascular cells and discuss the potential role of C-peptide in atherogenesis in patients with type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II-Cardiology, University of Ulm, Ulm 89073, Germany. nikolaus.marx@uniklinik-ulm.de
authors.forename: Nikolaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Walcher
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000097:blood*; D002096:C-Peptide / Q000097:blood*; D002455:Cell Division; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D002096:C-Peptide