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.