Immunoglobulin E and mast cell proteases are potential risk factors of human pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus.

• Main Authors: Zhen Wang, Hong Zhang, Xu-Hui Shen, Kui-Li Jin, Guo-fen Ye, Li Qian, Bo Li, Yong-Hong Zhang, Guo-Ping Shi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22194960/?tool=EBI

<h4>Background</h4>Recent studies have suggested that mast-cell activation and inflammation are important in obesity and diabetes. Plasma levels of mast cell proteases and the mast cell activator immunoglobulin E (IgE) may serve as novel inflammatory markers that associate with the risk of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus.<h4>Methods and results</h4>A total of 340 subjects 55 to 75 years of age were grouped according to the American Diabetes Association 2003 criteria of normal glucose tolerance, pre-diabetes, and diabetes mellitus. The Kruskal-Wallis test demonstrated significant differences in plasma IgE levels (P = 0.008) among groups with different glucose tolerance status. Linear regression analysis revealed significant correlations between plasma levels of chymase (P = 0.030) or IgE (P = 0.022) and diabetes mellitus. Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that IgE was a significant risk factor of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus (odds ratio [OR]: 1.674, P = 0.034). After adjustment for common diabetes risk factors, including age, sex, hypertension, body-mass index, cholesterol, homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) index, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and mast cell chymase and tryptase, IgE remained a significant risk factor (OR: 1.866, P = 0.015). Two-variable ordinal logistic analysis indicated that interactions between hs-CRP and IgE, or between IgE and chymase, increased further the risks of developing pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus before (OR: 2.204, P = 0.044; OR: 2.479, P = 0.033) and after (OR: 2.251, P = 0.040; OR: 2.594, P = 0.026) adjustment for common diabetes risk factors.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Both IgE and chymase associate with diabetes status. While IgE and hs-CRP are individual risk factors of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus, interactions of IgE with hs-CRP or with chymase further increased the risk of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus.