Alteration of plasma gdf-11 levels in type 2 diabetes patients with cardiovascular complications: A pilot study

Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Scientific literature reported that growth differentiation factor-11 (GDF-11) has an important role to prevent aging of the heart and decreases with age. However, there is no study to look at plasma GDF-11 levels in diabetes and diabetes associated with cardiovascular complications in India. Therefore, the present study was designed to know the alteration of GDF-11 levels in Indian patients having diabetes and diabetes with cardiovascular complications. Methods: Plasma GDF-11 levels were measured from total 89 age-matched (35-65) subjects by ELISA method. All patients were divided into five groups; control (CT, n = 20), T2DM (n = 15), T2DM with hypertension (T2DM_HTN, n = 14), coronary artery disease (CAD, n = 20), and CAD with T2DM (T2DM_CAD, n = 20). Clinical parameters such as glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting blood sugar, creatinine, lipid profile, uric acid, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured in all the patients. Results: Plasma GDF-11 levels were measured in all the study groups. We have observed that GDF-11 levels were significantly decreased in T2DM, T2DM_HTN, CAD, and T2DM_CAD subjects compared to CT subjects. Our data indicated that plasma GDF-11 levels were inversely associated with age but did not show any correlation with fasting blood glucose and Hb1Ac levels. Conclusion: Plasma GDF-11 levels were decreased in Indian patients associated with diabetes and diabetes with cardiovascular complications. Further studies are required to understand the role of decreased plasma GDF-11 levels on disease progression and development of cardiovascular complications in diabetes