New marker for diabetes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has become a global epidemic that affects not only elder people but also younger especially obesed individuals. Nowadays the risk factors for developing diabetes are said to be gender, age, waist measurement, body mass index or other more or less contributing factors. However, this week two studies from Germany and the US published in the two high impact journals „Diabetes“ and „Journal of American Medical Association“ demonstrated that a protein produced in the liver is highly associated with the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes.

 

Fetuin-A is secreted in the blood stream when the body becomes unable to produce insulin in the needed amount. Its main function is regarded as a potent inhibitor of systemic calcification. Knocking out the gene for fetuin-A in mice resulted in widespread calcification, ectopic mineralization, of lung, heart and kidneys. But previous studies have found an association between higher fetuin-A levels and insulin resistance in animals, too.

 

The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study investigated more than 270000 adult participants for seven years. Within this time 849 individuals contracted type 2 diabetes. Independet from age people with a high fetuin-A level (average 304 mg/ml) had a 75 per cent higher risk to develop diabetes than those with a lower level (average 158 mg/ml). „Particulary in persons with a heightened blood glucose level a distincitiv association with a high fetuin-A level attested,“ Norbert Stefan, from the University Hospital of Tübingen and senior author of the study, said.

 

The US-researchers around Joachim Ix of the University of Carlifornia, San Diego, came to the same result. Their study included 406 persons (age 70 to 79 years) without diabetes at the start of the study who had fetuin-A levels measured at baseline, and had six years of follow-up. Diabetes developed in 135 participants. The analysis indicated a graded increase in the incidence of diabetes with increased fetuin-A levels. The association was independent of physical activity, inflammatory biomarkers, and other commonly available measures of insuline resistance and was irrespective of sex, race, and obesity status, the authors summarize

 

„Future studies should evaluate whether fetuin-A may ultimately prove useful as a target for therapeutics. The study may provide novel insights to glucose metabolism in humans,“ both research groups conclude.

 

 Picture: sanofi aventis