title: The plasma levels of relaxin-2 and relaxin-3 in patients with diabetes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Relaxin-2 has been found to alleviate fibrosis in experimental diabetic cardiomyopathy. In addition, the levels of serum relaxin-3 were increased and correlated with all the component traits of metabolic syndrome. We investigated the levels of plasma relaxin-2 or relaxin-3 and their relationship to component traits in patients with diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 33 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients and 38 age-matched healthy subjects. Blood samples were taken at study entry, and relaxin-3, relaxin-2, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides, serum insulin and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relaxin-2 levels were significantly lower in patients with diabetes than in controls: the median plasma relaxin-2 concentration was 34.68 pg/mL (range, <29.00-50.81 pg/mL) in patients with diabetes and 45.80 pg/mL (range, <37.42-54.46 pg/mL) in controls (p=0.0150). However, no differences in relaxin-3 levels were observed between the diabetes group and controls (p=0.6550). The plasma levels of relaxin-2 or relaxin-3 were not correlated with systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP, total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglyceride, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin and HbA1c in patients with diabetes. Additionally, there was no correlation between the plasma concentrations of relaxin-2 and relaxin-3 in patients with diabetes (rs=0.225; p=0.208).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the plasma levels of relaxin-2 in diabetes patients were lower than in controls, however, there are no difference in plasma relaxin-3 concentrations between controls and patients with diabetes. Relaxin-2 or relaxin-3 levels are not related to component traits in patients with diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Minling
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Wenjia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wenxiu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012065:Relaxin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: C095068:RLN2 protein, human; C480238:RLN3 protein, human; D012065:Relaxin
keywords: BP; Diabetes; HDL-C; HOMA2; HbA(1c); LDL-C; Relaxin-2; Relaxin-3; blood pressure; hemoglobin A(1c); high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; homeostasis model assessment; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol