Serum levels of TWEAK and scavenger receptor CD163 in type 1 diabetes mellitus: relationship with cardiovascular risk factors. a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To test the usefulness of serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (sTWEAK) and soluble scavenger receptor CD163 (sCD163) as markers of subtle inflammation in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) without clinical cardiovascular (CV) disease and to evaluate their relationship with arterial stiffness (AS). METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with T1DM and 68 age and sex-matched, healthy subjects were evaluated. Anthropometrical variables and CV risk factors were recorded. Serum concentrations of sTWEAK and sCD163 were measured. AS was assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV). All statistical analyses were stratified by gender. RESULTS: T1DM patients showed lower serum concentrations of sTWEAK (Men: 1636.5 (1146.3-3754.8) pg/mL vs. 765.9 (650.4-1097.1) pg/mL; p<0.001. Women: 1401.0 (788.0-2422.2) pg/mL vs. 830.1 (562.6-1175.9) pg/mL; p = 0.011) compared with their respective controls. Additionally, T1DM men had higher serum concentrations of sCD163 (285.0 (247.7-357.1) ng/mL vs. 224.8 (193.3-296.5) ng/mL; p = 0.012) compared with their respective controls. sTWEAK correlated negatively with aPWV in men (r = -0.443; p<0.001). However, this association disappeared after adjusting for potential confounders. In men, the best multiple linear regression model showed that the independent predictors of sTWEAK were T1DM and WHR (R(2) = 0.640; p