Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Current studies suggest that fractalkine (FKN) could be a pathogenic factor associated with adipocyte dysfunction and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and have shown that FKN serum levels are increased in T2DM patients. The aim of this study was determined as evaluating the change of FKN levels that will occur with oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

Methods: The study included 67 patients to whom OGTT was applied. The patients with the history of diabetes mellitus, malignity or inflammatory disease were excluded. All subjects were given 75 g of glucose orally after an overnight fasting and blood samples were taken for glucose and FKN levels at 0 and 120 min. According to OGTT results, the patients were divided into the groups of NGT (n=33) and newly diagnosed T2DM (n=34).

Results: The basal level of FKN (OGTT at 0 min) was found to be significantly higher in T2DM group than NGT group (0.374 ng/ml vs 0.259 ng/ml, P=0.012). The FKN level at 120 min of OGTT was significantly higher also in T2DM group compared to NGT group (0.367 ng/ml vs 0.229 ng/ml, P=0.001). No significant changes in FKN levels during OGTT were observed in both T2DM and NGT groups (0 and 120 min change) (0.374 ng/ml vs 0.367 ng/ml, P=0.433 and 0.259 ng/ml vs 0.229 ng/ml P=0.06, respectively). A significant positive correlation was noted between the levels of FKN and glucose at 120 min of OGTT (r=0.331, P=0.006).

Conclusion: Acute hyperglycemia or food intake is known to lead to an increase in circulating levels of many inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α. Fractalkine (FKN) is a recently defined inflammatory cytokine. The results of our study, there was no change of serum FKN levels during OGTT in T2DM and NGT patients but there was a significant correlation between the levels of FKN and glucose at 120 min of OGTT. We believe that long-term studies with broad participation and serial measurements are needed to determine the role of FKN in the pathogenesis of T2DM.