Abstract
Diabetes mellitus represents a major independent risk factor for developing fatal cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) presumably through accelerating atherosclerosis; the underlying cause of most CVDs. Notably, this relative risk is reported to be higher in women than men. Endeavors directed towards identifying novel reliable predictive biomarkers are immensely thereby urged to improve the long-term outcome in these diabetic female patients. Sclerostin (SOST) is a Wnt signaling antagonist whereas irisin is a muscle-derived factor released after exercising which enhances browning of white adipose tissue. Emerging lines of evidence hint at potential crosstalk between them and CVDs. The present study aimed to assess the serum levels of SOST and irisin in Egyptian type 2 diabetic (T2DM) female patients with and without atherosclerosis and explore the possible relationship between both markers and other studied parameters among the studied cohorts. In this case-control study, 69 female subjects were enrolled; 39 type 2 diabetes patients with atherosclerosis (T2DM+ATHR), 22 type 2 diabetes patients without atherosclerosis (T2DM-ATHR) and 8 healthy controls. Their serum levels of SOST and irisin were assessed using ELISA. Significant increase in SOST levels were found in T2DM+ATHR compared to T2DM-ATHR and control (259.9 ±17.98 vs. 165.8±13.12 and 142.0±13.31 pg/mL respectively, P<0.001). Conversely, irisin levels were significantly lower in T2DM+ATHR (P<0.001) and T2DM-ATHR (P<0.01) compared to the control group (32.91±2.545 and 58.55±13.19 vs. 473.6±112.7 pg/mL). Interestingly, significant correlations between the levels of SOST and both irisin and fasting blood glucose were noticed in T2DM+ATHR group (r = 0.3754 and 0.3381 respectively, P<0.05). In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the correlation between SOST and irisin levels in atherosclerotic T2DM female patients implying their potential implication in diabetic cardiovascular pathophysiology and supporting their use as reliable diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers for monitoring and preventing CVDs progression of T2DM female patients.
Highlights
Over the last three decades, the number of diabetic patients has quadrupled worldwide
Rambhade et al, (2011) stated that Diabetes mellitus (DM) elevates the risk of both cardiac diseases and stroke and almost half DM patients are killed by cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)
There is a direct relationship between insulin resistance and being overweight that shall be translated into stemming of various diseases such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and CVDs [23]
Summary
Over the last three decades, the number of diabetic patients has quadrupled worldwide. It has been reported that almost 1 in each 11 adults are diabetic patients, 90% of whom suffer from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)[1]. Diabetes mellitus (DM) inflicts a lot of complications that are categorized into microvascular and macrovascular complications [2], among which is atherosclerosis which is one of the main pathological manifestations in macrovascular diseases [3]. While in the general population, women were deemed to possess the “hormonal protective advantage” from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such relative protective effect is less pronounced upon developing DM. After adjusting for other risk factors, DM was demonstrated to increase the risk of CVDs in both women and men by 3 to 4 times and 2 to 3 times respectively [4]. Identification of novel reliable predictor biomarkers is indispensible for monitoring and precluding the progression of atherosclerosis in T2DM female patients
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