Correlation between oxidized-LDL and interleukin-6 in type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract

Background: Studies have suggested that oxidative stress is a common pathway of different leading mechanisms to diabetes complications. Oxidative stress play a crucial role in atherogenesis and cause oxidation of low density lipoprotein. Evidence has been shown that oxidized LDL in diabetic patients is higher than nondiabetic individuals. Regarding to known role of oxidative stress in developing of micro and macrovascular complications of diabetes and recent evidences about importance of IL-6 in initiating of inflammatory processes in atherosclerotic plaques formation and reports that shown the effects of Ox-LDL upon IL-6 release, in this study evaluation of serum levels of IL-6 and correlation of these two agents in diabetic patients in comparison with healthy persons was performed.
Methods: This stratified cross-sectional study was conducted in diabetic clinic of Imam khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences during 2009-2010, recruiting 40 type2 diabetic (T2DM) patients as cases and 40 healthy subjects as controls. FBS, lipid profile, HbA1c, oxidized-LDL and IL-6 levels were measured for both patients and controls after 12 hours fasting state.
Results: The mean of Ox-LDL/LDL ratio in T2DM group (0.65±0.14) were significantly higher than control group (0.5±0.15) (p<0.001). The mean level of IL-6 in T2DM group were 2.6±1.8 pg/ml that was higher than control group (1.9± 0.8pg/ml) (p=0.05). BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressures revealed significant correlation with IL- 6 level in diabetic group. There was no correlation between diabetes duration and IL-6 level.
Conclusion: We concluded that diabetes, as an independent factor, is responsible for increased IL-6 in T2DM.