Glycaemic status in relation to oxidative stress and inflammation in well-controlled type 2 diabetes subjects

Abstract

The aim of the present observational study was to investigate the relationships between glycaemic status and levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in well-controlled type 2 diabetes subjects. Metabolic variables (weight, BMI, waist circumference (waist), blood glucose, glycated Hb (HbA1c), insulin, blood lipids), biomarkers of oxidative stress (8-iso-PGF2α, malondialdehyde, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine, formamido pyrimidine glycosylase-sites, frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes, nitrotyrosine) and inflammatory markers (high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), IL-6, cyclo-oxygenase-catalyzed PGF2α -metabolite) were measured. Fifty-six patients (thirty women and twenty-six men, age 62.3 (sd 7.0) years, HbA1c 6.1 (sd 0.9) %, BMI 28.3 (sd 3.8) kg/m2, waist 99.6 (sd 11.1) cm) were included in the study. HbA1c (r 0.29, P = 0.03) and blood glucose (r 0.33, P = 0.01) correlated positively with 8-iso-PGF2α. Positive correlations were also observed between HbA1c and nitrotyrosine (r 0.42, P = 0.01), waist and hsCRP (r 0.37, P = 0.005), hsCRP and IL-6 (r 0.61, P<0.0001) and between PGF2α-metabolite and 8-iso-PGF2α (r 0.27, P = 0.048). The present study indicates that glycaemic status is associated with oxidative stress even in subjects with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, inflammation was more related to abdominal obesity than to glycaemic control. A large number of biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation were investigated, but only a few associations were found between the markers. This could be due to the fact that none of these biomarkers biosynthesises via similar pathways or simultaneously owing to their diverse nature and origin.