Serum Concentrations of Transforming Growth Factor-Beta 1 in Predicting the Occurrence of Diabetic Retinopathy in Juvenile Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

In the present study, we have decided to evaluate if serum transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) concentrations may have diagnostic value in predicting the occurrence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in juvenile patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The study included 81 children and adolescents with T1DM and 19 control subjects. All study participants had biochemical parameters examined, underwent an eye examination, and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring. Moreover, serum concentrations of TGF-β1 were measured. The group of patients with T1DM and nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) had statistically significant higher serum levels of TGF-β1 (P = 0.001) as compared to T1DM patients without retinopathy as well as the healthy control subject. The threshold serum TGF-β1 concentrations which had a discriminative ability to predict the presence of DR were calculated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis and amounted to 443 pg/ml. The area under the ROC curve (AUCROC) was 0.80, and its population value was in the range of 0.66 to 0.94. The sensitivity and specificity were calculated to be 72% and 88%, respectively. Our results suggest that TGF-β1 serum concentrations may be an additional parameter in predicting the occurrence of DR in juvenile patients with T1DM.

Relationship between Serum Transforming Growth Factorβ1 Concentrations and the Duration of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Children and Adolescents

“…For example, in the fifteenth year of diabetes duration, an increase in the serum TGF- β 1 concentrations by 1 SD was associated with a 25% increase in the probability of microangiopathy when the remaining predictors were held constant. What is more, in our recent study we established the limit for TGF- β 1 concentrations on the presence of diabetic retinopathy in children and adolescents with T1DM [28]. We suggest that in patients with T1DM, TGF- β 1 levels may correlate with the degree of eye and kidney damage.…”

TGF-β Affects the Differentiation of Human GM-CSF+ CD4+ T Cells in an Activation- and Sodium-Dependent Manner

“…While we used serum-free X-VIVO 15 medium, Zielinski and colleagues (5) used RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 5% human serum and they observed that TGF-β had no effect on human GM-CSF + CD4 + T cell differentiation (5). Because serum contains high levels of TGF-β that may be biologically active (37, 38), and bovine serum-derived TGF-β1 is 100% conserved compared to the human TGF-β1 protein, this might have precluded the possibility for the authors to study potential effects of exogenously added TGF-β (5). In the abovementioned study that described inhibitory effects of TGF-β on human GM-CSF + CD4 + T cell induction, the authors did not specify which medium and whether serum was used (9).…”

Microvascular effects of the inhibition of dipeptidylpeptidase IV by linagliptin in nondiabetic hypertensive patients

“…Moreover, there is some evidence that treatment with DPP-IV inhibitors interferes with the activation of TGF-ß1 [33]. The role of proinflammatory cytokine TGF-ß1 in the development of diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy appears controversial [34,35]. TGF-ß1 plays an important role in angiogenesis, endothelial cell proliferation, cell adhesion and the deposition of extracellular matrix [36,37].…”