Association of serum TNF-α and IL-6 with insulin secretion and insulin resistance in IFG and IGT subjects in a Bangladeshi population

BackgroundTNF-α and IL-6 have been shown to be associated with insulin resistance in T2 DM subjects. However, their causal role in the development of diabetes is still unsettled.Subjects and methodsIn the present study 106 prediabetic subjects (17 IFG, 60 IGT, 29 IFG-IGT) were studied along with age- and BMI-matched 56 healthy controls. Insulin was measured by ELISA; TNF-α and IL-6 were measured by chemiluminescence-based EIA.ResultsFasting serum TNF-α and fasting serum IL-6 levels were not significantly different among the groups. However, a significant association of TNF-α (p < 0.013) with prediabetic (IGR) state on binary logistic regression analysis was shown when the effects of sex, BMI, WHR, HOMA B and HOMA S were adjusted. On multinomial logistic regression analysis a significant positive association of TNF-α was observed with IGT and IFG-IGT subjects (p = 0.008, p = 0.008) when the effects of sex, BMI, WHR, HOMA B and HOMA S were adjusted. On multiple linear regression analysis TNF-α showed a significant positive association with insulin secretory capacity when adjusting the effects of the confounding factors.ConclusionsTNF-α is positively associated with IGT and IFG-IGT state and may have a causal relation with insulin secretory defect in IGR or prediabetic subjects.