Levels of transforming growth factor beta 1 in south Indian type 2 diabetic subjects.

Background and Aims The prosclerotic cytokine TGFβ has been implicated as an important downstream mediator in the progression of the renal pathological changes occurring in diabetic patients. This study was undertaken to determine (1) whether serum levels of zTGFβ1 was elevated in South Indian type 2 diabetic subjects and (2) whether treatment with oral hypoglycaemic agents/insulin and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) influenced TGFβ1 levels in diabetic subjects. Methods Among the 131 study subjects, 101 were consecutive type 2 diabetic patients and the other 30 subjects were non-diabetic, normoglycaemic (NGT, M : F 15 : 15) healthy subjects who had undergone an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) during medical checkup. TGFβ1 was determined using solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Mean serum TGFβ1 levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.0001) in the type 2 diabetic subjects (30 ± 13.1 ng/mL) when compared with the non-diabetic subjects (19 ± 8.3 ng/mL). Diabetic subjects who were being treated with a combination of OHA and insulin (n = 53;25.6 ± 11.5 ng/mL) had significantly (p = 0.0009) lower levels of TGFβ1 when compared with those who were being treated with OHA alone (n = 48;34.1 ± 13.4 ng/mL). Nearly 36% of the diabetic subjects were being treated with ACEI/ARB, and they had significantly (p = 0.01) lower levels of TGFβ1 (n = 36;25.4 ± 12.6 ng/mL) when compared with those who were not being treated with ACEI/ARB (n = 65;32 ± 12.9 ng/mL). Conclusion The present study demonstrated significantly elevated TGFβ1 levels in South Indian type 2 diabetic patients when compared with the non-diabetic subjects. Insulin and ACEI/ARB treatment appears to have a protective effect by lowering TGFβ1 concentrations in these subjects. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.