Glucagon-like peptide-1 levels and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 activity in type 2 diabetes.

PURPOSE: Hyperglycemia is the major risk factor for microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. This randomized controlled clinical trial aimed to investigate T2DM patients with microvascular complications with regard to possible relations among serum clusterin (CLU), amylin, secreted frizzled-related protein-4 (SFRP-4), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) activities. METHODS: Subject groups were defined as follows: T2DM without complications (n=25, F/M=9/16, age 53.9±11.1 years); T2DM+Retinopathy (n=25, F/M=13/12, age 63.8±7.1 years); T2DM+Nephropathy (n=25, F/M=13/12, age 58.7±14.4 years); T2DM+Neuropathy (n=25, F/M=15/10, age 63.2±9.6 years); and healthy control subjects (HC) (n=25). CLU, amylin, SFRP-4, DPP-4 and GLP-1 (total and active) activities were measured and compared in blood samples from type 2 diabetic patients with and without microvascular complications. RESULTS: Significantly lower levels of DPP-4 and GLP-1total (P.

Is there any effect of tumor burden on hemostatic parameters in cancer patients? A case-control study of hemostatic abnormalities and anticardiolipin antibodies in solid tumors.

Hemostatic complications are one of the leading causes of mortality in cancer patients. In the present study, we assessed the hemostatic parameters and anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with solid tumors (n = 104) and healthy controls (n = 25) and also find out whether the abnormalities in these hemostatic parameters vary related to tumor burden. Prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastine time, D-dimer, and fibrinogen as hemostatic parameters were determined by photo-optometric clot detection system, and serum anticardiolipin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The plasma levels of fibrinogen, D-dimer, and serum anticardiolipin IgM levels in cancer patients were significantly higher compared with those in controls (P < .001, P = .001, and P = .01, respectively). Only fibrinogen levels were significantly higher in metastatic group than nonmetastatic group (P < .001 ). Hemostatic abnormalities that are detected in asymptomatic cancer patients may not give any clue about tumor burden or stage of the cancer patients.

C-reactive protein as an acute phase protein in cancer patients.

The aim of our study was to determine the rate of elevation of c-reactive protein in cancer patients and to evaluate its correlation with other acute phase proteins. A total of 104 patients with various types of cancer who admitted clinic were included in our study. Serum levels of c-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin, haptoglobin, plasma fibrinogen levels and erythyrocyte sedimentation rate were measured. The serum levels of c-reactive protein was found to be increased in 74% of cancer patients, with 81.3% and 64.4% in metastatic and non-metastatic group, respectively. Our study showed that c-reactive protein and fibrinogen demonstrated better characteristics than other acute phase proteins to differentiate between cancer patients and healthy individuals and also to differentiate between healthy individuals and patients with infection. C-reactive protein, ferritin, fibrinogen, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and haptoglobin showed similar characteristics to differentiate metastatic and non-metastatic cancer patients whereas, LDH demonstrated the lowest performance. C-reactive protein was not found to be superior to other acute phase proteins in the differential diagnosis of cancer and infection and in differentiating early stage disease from advanced stage.