Association of oxidized low-density lipoprotein and transforming growth factor-beta in type 2 diabetic patients: a cross-sectional study

Recent in vitro evidence suggests that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) stimulates the expression of transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) by human glomerular epithelial cells. An elevated level of TGF-ß, which is a multifunctional growth cytokine, is also reported in diabetic patients. This study aimed to determine the association between ox-LDL and TGF-ß in healthy and type 2 diabetic participants. A total of 80 type 2 diabetic patients, who were referred to the outpatient diabetes clinic of a university general hospital, and 80 healthy controls matched for sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) were recruited. Fasting blood samples were obtained, and fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c), LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, HbA1C, ox-LDL, and TGF-ß were measured. Ox-LDL and TGF-ß were significantly greater in diabetic patients than healthy controls (72.66 ± 3.11, 46.02 ± 1.64, P < 0.001 and 4.75 ± 0.43, 2.06 ± 0.31, P < 0.001, respectively). Ox-LDL was significantly correlated to TGF-ß in diabetic patients (r = 0.318, P = 0.004). This significant association was not observed in healthy controls (r = 0.148, P = 0.191). In multivariate linear regression analysis after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, and creatinine, ox-LDL was a significant independent predictor of TGF-ß (ß = 0.308, P = 0.007). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that ox-LDL is significantly correlated to TGF-ß in type 2 diabetic patients.