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Alterations in Plasma Transforming Growth Factor ß in Normoalbuminuric Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetic Patients¹

Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology (S.T.A., I.S., M.S.Z.), Chronic Care Center for Diabetes (S.T.A.), and Department of Family Medicine (S.M.), American University Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: Sami T. Azar, M.D., F.A.C.P., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, American University of Beirut, 850 3rd Avenue 18th floor, New York, New York 10022. E-mail: sazar{at}aub.edu.lb

Transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) is an immunosuppressor. It plays a role in regulating cell proliferation, and deletion of its gene in transgenic mice leads to an autoimmune-like disorder. A role of this cytokine has been proposed in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and probably type 2 diabetes. Previous studies had shown an elevated serum level in type 2 diabetes and a reduced serum level in type 1 diabetes; however, these studies did not address the onset of the alterations of TGF-ß with regard to the duration of diabetes. In this study, we compared the levels of TGF-ß in the serum of groups of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus divided according to the duration of their disease.

Twenty-six normoalbuminuric patients with type 1 diabetes and 25 normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes were divided into three groups according to the onset of their diabetes and were compared with 27 and 15 age-matched normal subjects, respectively. We conclude that in normoalbuminuric patients serum TGF-ß levels increased at the onset of type 2 diabetes and remained elevated throughout the disease; they did not change at the onset of type1 diabetes, however, they started to decrease around 2 yr after the onset of the disease.

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