Circulating TGF-β1, Glycation, and Oxidation in Children with Diabetes Mellitus Type 1

The present study investigates the relationship between diabetes metabolic control represented by levels of HbA1c, early glycation products-(fructosamine (FAM)), serum-advanced glycation end products (s-AGEs), lipoperoxidation products (LPO), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and circulating TGF-β in young patients with DM1. The study group consisted of 79 patients with DM1 (8-18 years). 31 healthy children were used as control (1-16 years). Baseline characteristics of patients were compared by Student's t-test and nonparametric Mann-Whitney test (Statdirect), respectively. The correlations between the measured parameters were examined using Pearson correlation coefficient r and Spearman's rank test, respectively. A P value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. HbA1c was measured by LPLC, s-AGEs spectrofluorimetrically, LPO and AOPP spectrophotometrically and TGF-β by ELISA. Our results showed that parameters of glycation and oxidation are significantly higher in patients with DM1 than in healthy control. The level of serum TGF-β was significantly higher in diabetics in comparison with control: 7.1(3.6; 12.6) versus 1.6(0.8; 3.9) ng/mL. TGF-β significantly correlated with age and duration of DM1. There was not found any significant relation between TGF-β and parameres of glycation and oxidation. However, these results do not exclude the association between TGF-β and the onset of diabetic complications.