Akash Singh, Banaras Hindu University
Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), which affects over 20 million new cases annually, imposes an increased financial burden on healthcare systems worldwide in conjunction with the attributable high morbidity and mortality. The early identification of risk individuals and the swift implementation of primary and secondary preventative measures can however prevent most of this burden. Therefore it is essential to identify T2D-associated biomarkers to minimize the financial burden of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare due to this prevalent and chronic disease. To address this problem, the potential role of inter-muscular adipose deposits in pathophysiology for T2D by the use of biomarkers with CT has been recently published by a cohort study of 1,744 participants in the Multi-ethnic Atherosclerosis (MESA) study. This study aimed to examine the linkage between adipose tissue biomarkers derived from CT and normal glycemic adult T2D.
Cohort Study:
A cohort study is a type of panel study where the individuals in the panel share a common characteristic, in our case normoglycemia (baseline fasting plasma glucose [FPG] less than 100 mg/dL). From April 2010 and January 2012 to December 2017, this cohort of 1 744 participants from six U.S. communities was followed for an average of 7 years. The median age of the participants at baseline was 69±9 years and women were 977 (56.0%). Over an average of seven years, 103 participants (5.9%) were diagnosed with T2D and 147 (8.4%) died.
The inter-muscular adipose tissue (IMAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) areas were measured in baseline chest CT tests and corrected by height squares (SAT and IMAT indexes) using a predefined measuring protocol to investigate the associations between computed tomography (CT) derived adipose tissue biomarkers and T2D incidence in standard glucose adults. The main outcome of T2D was the follow-up to fasting glucose plasma (FPG), examination of hospital records, or self-reported medical diagnoses.
In this research, a link between the baseline IMAT and the follow-up incidence of T2D was observed. The potential role of adipose inter-muscle depots in T2D pathophysiology is suggested in this study and unmeasured residual confounders and one-time measurements of adipose tissue biomarkers were the limitations of this study.
Findings and Prospects:
The results of this research show that IMAT is associated with T2D incidence in chest CT tests (i.e. high IMAT index). The Inter-muscular adipose tissue (IMAT) index in chest CT tests may reflect overall deposition, which is linked to insulin resistance and possibly T2D (upper and lower bodies), of extra-myocellular adipose depots. IMAT is located close to muscle fibers and can act as an intermediary in insulin resistance by securing pro-inflammatory cytokines, extracellular matrix proteins, and increasing local fatty acids, and collectively altering the microenvironment of the skeleton. These results show that the IMAT index is still associated with T2D incidence when the effects of these clinical anthropometric indexes and IMAT are both accounted for in the model.
The IMAT deposition was associated with T2D incidence in normoglycemic participants. The potential role of adipose inter-muscle depots in T2D pathophysiology is suggested in this study. The adiposity biomarkers from CT tests performed for other initial evidence can be obtained and the value of the routine chest CT tests can be extended. The T2D incidence of this biomarker may be linked. This study can be the foundation of the protocols that are going to be created over the upcoming years to assess the risk of any disease by utilizing the biomarkers related to it.
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Reference:
- Pishgar F, Shabani M, Quinaglia A. C. Silva T, Bluemke DA, Budoff M, Barr RG, et al. (2021) Adipose tissue biomarkers and type 2 diabetes incidence in normoglycemic participants in the MESArthritis Ancillary Study: A cohort study. PLoS Med 18(7): e1003700. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003700
Author info:
Akash Singh is a first-year master’s student of Biochemistry at Banaras Hindu University. He plans to pursue Ph.D. in the future. He aims to research and teach the young minds of the country.
Social media links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-singh-82b5811a2/
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