Plasma interleukin-6 levels are increased in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance but not in those with impaired fasting glucose in a cohort of Italian Caucasians

✍ Scribed by Marina Cardellini; Francesco Andreozzi; Emanuela Laratta; Maria Adelaide Marini; Renato Lauro; Marta Letizia Hribal; Francesco Perticone; Giorgio Sesti

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 94 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1520-7552
• DOI: 10.1002/dmrr.679

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Background

While the relationship between impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and circulating interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) is well established, there is no information whether IL‐6 levels are elevated in impaired fasting glucose (IFG).

Methods

To this end, we examined the relationship between plasma IL‐6 concentration and different degrees of glucose homeostasis in a cohort of 470 Italian Caucasian subjects comprising 236 normal glucose tolerant (NGT), 49 IFG, 51 IGT, and 134 type 2 diabetic subjects.

Results

We observed that IL‐6, CRP and fibrinogen levels were higher in subjects with IGT or type 2 diabetes as compared with NGT and IFG subjects. Univariate correlations between IL‐6 concentrations and metabolic variables in the whole cohort showed that IL‐6 levels were positively correlated with age, BMI, waist, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, CRP, fibrinogen, and negatively correlated with insulin sensitivity, IGF‐I and HDL. In a subgroup analysis including NGT, IFG and IGT (n = 336), IL‐6 levels were positively correlated with age, BMI, waist, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, CRP, fibrinogen, fasting insulin, 2 h post‐load glucose, and negatively correlated with insulin sensitivity, IGF‐I and HDL. Stepwise linear regression analysis in a model including gender, age, BMI, waist, glucose tolerance status, fasting plasma glucose, 2 h post‐load glucose, triglycerides, HDL, fasting insulin, and insulin sensitivity revealed that waist was the only independent variable associated with IL‐6 levels accounting for 21.0% of its variation (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions

These data show that IGT and type 2 diabetes, but not IFG, are associated with elevated plasma IL‐6 levels. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.