Fractalkine levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with various body weight

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The obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered as concomitant pathologies in the most cases. The risk of developing cardiovascular and overall mortality increases even when the upper limit of normal body weight is reached. The chemokine family is important in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, as it activates leukocytes and provokes their adhesion to the vascular wall, i.e., increases inflammation in the endothelium, and plays an important role at all stages of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
 Objective — to investigate the fractalkine level in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with various body weights and to establish correlations between fractalkine and cardiovascular risk factors, cytokine levels, and morpho functional parameters of the heart.
 Materials and methods. Examinations involved 100 patients with type 2 DM with normal, overweight, and obesity of varying degrees; the control group consisted of 10 practically healthy subjects. The mean age of patients was 47.9±3.4 years. Patients didn’t have history of CVD or CVD signs during examinations, part from arterial hypertension. Echocardiography and assessment of fractalkine levels were performed to all patients.
 Results. A significantly higher fractalkine level was found in all patients with type 2 DM compared to the control group. There was a significant increase in the levels of this indicator depending on body mass index. It was found that there was a direct correlation between average strength with body mass index (r=0.45; p=0.0001), thickness of the left ventricular posterior wall (r=0.53; p=0.0005), left ventricular myocardial mass index (r=0.589; p=0.0005), and left atrium (r=0.49; p=0.0005); a strong correlation with waist circumference (r=0.72; p<0.0001), a moderate correlation with total cholesterol (r=0.46; p=0.0005), a significant correlation (r=0.62; p<0.00001) with glycated hemoglobin. There was also a significant relationship between fractalkine level and interleukin‑6 (0.69; p=0.0005) and C‑reactive protein (0.63; p<0.00001), a significant relationship (r=0.63 p<0.00001) between fractalkine and leptin levels.
 Conclusions. The study results demonstrated that in patients with type 2 DM, and an increase in body mass index, the level of blood fractalkine significantly increases, which closely correlates with waist circumference, indicators of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and pro‑inflammatory cytokines. A significant relationship was found between fractalkine levels and left ventricular posterior wall thickness, left ventricular, and left atrial myocardial mass index.