Premium
Plasma levels of free fatty acids correlate with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Author(s) -
Spiller Sandro,
Blüher Matthias,
Hoffmann Ralf
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
diabetes, obesity and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.445
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1463-1326
pISSN - 1462-8902
DOI - 10.1111/dom.13449
Subject(s) - glycation , medicine , type 2 diabetes mellitus , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , haptoglobin , gastroenterology , obesity , type 2 diabetes , metabolic control analysis
Aims Free fatty acids (FFA) mediate adverse metabolic effects such as downregulated carbohydrate metabolisms, providing causal links between obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Here, we investigated the plasma concentrations of FFA alone and in combination with protein glycation as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of T2DM. Materials and methods EDTA‐plasma obtained from 48 newly diagnosed male T2DM patients, 48 long‐term controlled (24 male and 24 female) T2DM patients, 20 prediabetic male T2DM patients and two age‐matched control cohorts (48 non‐diabetic (ND) men; 24 male and 24 female ND partipants) were analysed for a set of clinical parameters including FFA. Glycation sites were quantified after tryptic digestion using tandem mass spectrometry. Results Median plasma concentrations of FFA were almost three‐fold higher in samples obtained from newly diagnosed (long‐term controlled) T2DM patients than in those obtained from the control group, providing diagnostic sensitivity (SN) of 92% (85%) and specificity (SP) of 90% (88%). When combined with the glycation level of lysine‐141 of haptoglobin, diagnostic accuracy improved further for newly diagnosed (SN, 94%; SP 96%) and long‐term controlled (SN, 85%; SP, 94%) T2DM patients (HbA1c: SN, 88%; SP, 96%). A prospective pilot study evaluating the prognostic value revealed initially low FFA levels for pre‐diabetic patients that increased in the following four years in patients whose prediabetic state worsened or who developed T2DM. Conclusions FFA levels are elevated in newly diagnosed and long‐term controlled T2DM patients, providing high diagnostic accuracy of 87% and 91%, respectively, which improved further when combined with the glycation degree of lysine‐141 in haptoglobin. Additionally, FFA showed higher mean fold‐changes than HbA1c or FPG in subjects developing T2DM, indicating higher sensitivity towards the progression of the disease.