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Immunoglobulin levels associated with type 2 diabetes prevalence
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Increased levels of immunoglobulin A and decreased levels of immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M in adults may be associated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, according to recent study findings.
In a cross-sectional study, Xiaoyan Guo, MD, of the Nutritional Epidemiology Institute and School of Public Health at Tianjin Medical University, China, and colleagues analyzed data from 10,691 Chinese adults participating in the Tianjin chronic low-grade systemic inflammation and health cohort study between 2010 and 2014 (mean age, 51 years). All participants received at least one annual physical examination, including serum-immunologic tests. Researchers defined type 2 diabetes according to WHO criteria and used adjusted logistic models to assess relationships between the quintiles of Ig concentrations and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
Within the cohort, 1,250 adults (11.7%) had type 2 diabetes (mean age, 56 years; 74.2% men; mean BMI, 26.1 kg/m²). Mean levels of IgG, IgE, IgM and IgA were 1,192.3 mg/dL, 92.3 IU/mL, 104.8 mg/dL and 234.1 mg/dL, respectively.
Researchers found that adults with type 2 diabetes tended to have higher levels of the IgA and lower levels of IgG and IgM (P < .0001 for all). Comparing the highest immunoglobulin quintiles with the lowest, researchers found the ORs for type 2 diabetes were 0.64 for IgG (95% CI, 0.52-0.78), 1 for IgE (95% CI, 0.81-1.22), 0.77 for IgM (95% CI, 0.62-0.95) and 1.57 for IgA (95% CI, 1.29-1.91), after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, smoking and drinking status, and various cardiometabolic risk factors.
“Here we found that serum levels of IgM were lower in patients with [type 2 diabetes] than those without [type 2 diabetes], and positively related with the prevalence of [type 2 diabetes],” the researchers wrote. “The result may be due to hyperglycemia, a characteristic of diabetes.”
The researchers also noted that the higher concentration of IgA observed in patients with diabetes may be the result of an immune response to advanced glycosylation end products, whose increase and accumulation are caused by persistent high blood glucose. – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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