Association between interleukin‐19 and angiopoietin‐2 with vascular complications in type 2 diabetes

AIMS/INTRODUCTION The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of interleukin-19 (IL-19) in angiogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus with complications, and to assess the relationship of serum IL-19 and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in type 2 diabetes mellitus. MATERIALS AND METHODS The group studied comprised of 240 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (132 men and 108 women), and included macrovascular complications, microvascular complications and type 2 diabetes mellitus without vascular complications. The control group consisted of 50 healthy blood donors. All participants were evaluated for: IL-19, Ang-2, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin and glycosylated hemoglobin. RESULTS The serum IL-19 levels of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with angiopathy were found to be significantly higher compared with patients without angiopathy. IL-19 levels were significantly positively correlated with Ang-2, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance and glycosylated hemoglobin (r = 0.769, 0.523 and 0.491, respectively, P < 0.01). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, IL-19 levels (P = 0.01) were found to be independently associated with patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus complications. CONCLUSIONS These data are the first to implicate the association between the IL-19 and type 2 diabetes mellitus with vascular complications. IL-19 is significantly positively correlated with Ang-2. The potential role of IL-19 and Ang-2 in the pathogenesis of vascular complications in type 2 diabetes could warrant further study.