Serum adiponectin concentration in patients with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Adiponectin (AdipoQ) is known as one of the major mediators of adipose tissue metabolism with beneficial effects on carbohydrates and lipids. The effect of low concentrations of adiponectin on the development of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease is quite well understood. However, there is still little research available defining the role of adiponectin in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (DM1) and its’ complications. Therefore, it seems appropriate to undertake research aiming to evaluate serum levels of adiponectin in the blood of patients with DM1 and to evaluate the correlations between this adipocytokine concentration and selected clinical data as well as biochemical parameters evaluated in routine diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes. The study included 40 patients aged 41.9±12.7 years, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and group of healthy controls (n=26) with mean age of 41.2±15.3 years. In serum samples of all patients single-time determination of adiponectin, glucose, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, urea, creatinine, glycated hemoglobin levels and alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activity were performed. The mean AdipoQ concentration was significantly higher in the study group than in healthy subjects (16.2±11.7 ug/ml vs. 7.3±2.0 ug/ml; p<0.001). Significantly higher levels of AdipoQ in women than in men with DM1 (23.1±14.0 ug/ml vs. 11.0±5.8 ug/ml; p<0.001) were found. AdipoQ was directly correlated with disease duration (r=0.539, p=0.003) as well as inversely with patients’ body mass (r=-0.423, p=0.025). Observed increased levels of AdipoQ in patients with DM1 with concomitant vascular complications as compared to patients without the complications, however not statistically significant, suggests that this protein may play important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic angiopathy.