अमूर्त

Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Have Increased Circulating Betatrophin Concentrations

Munawar

Betatrophin has recently been described as an important hormone to stimulate large expansion of beta cells in response to insulin resistance and obesity in mice. This finding has raised interest in the development of anti-diabetic drugs with betatrophin as the active ingredient. However, circulating levels of betatrophin in patients with type 2 diabetes are not well known. The plasma betatrophin levels of 27 type 2 diabetic patients and 18 controls matched for sex, age and BMI were measured. Study participants were characterized by BMI, waist and hip circumference, fasting blood pressure and plasma lipids, creatinine, glucose, HbA1c, and C-peptide. The HOMA2 indicator has been calculated. Betatrophin was 40% higher in patients with type 2 diabetes. Betatrophin was positively correlated with age in controls and HbA1c in patients with type 2 diabetes. All study participants were insulin resistant with intermediate HOMA2B IR. The average in both groups was greater than 2%. Control individuals had impaired fasting glucose levels. In this report on betatrophin levels in type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, elevated betatrophin levels were measured in patients with type 2 diabetes. Future studies are clearly needed to characterize precisely the role of betatrophin, if any, in the regulation of human beta cell mass.