Analysis of Inflammatory Cytokines in Pre-Diabetic Subjects

Objective: Pre-diabetes is defined as either impaired fasting glucose ((IFG) between 5.6 and 6.9mmol/l) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) wherein fasting or post-prandial plasma glucose levels are above normal levels, but below that of clinical Type-2-Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Both IFG and IGT, risk factors for T2DM and macrovascular diseases, have previously been linked with inflammation. With this in mind, we sought to comparatively evaluate the levels of inflammatory markers in pre-diabetics relative to normal healthy individuals. Methods: We determined the levels of serum cytokines in a cohort of 9 patients with pre-diabetes and thirty four individuals with normal glucose control using a 96-Well Multi-array 7-plex assay or 1-plex IFN-β and Rantes 96-well plates (Meso Scale Discovery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA). Results: Our study demonstrated that the patient group with pre-diabetes exhibited a non-significant trend towards elevated IL-6, TNFα, IFN-β, IL-12, Rantes, IL-10 and IL-8 when compared with the healthy controls group. After adjustment for age, sex, BMI and WHR, in the study population, there was no difference in the levels of cytokines between the pre-diabetes and normal groups. Conclusion: Measurement of serum cytokine levels alone is unlikely to be a predictor of clinical disease activity in individuals with prediabetes