Advanced Glycation End Products in Hemodialyzed Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Correlate with Leptin and Leptin/Body Fat Ratio

Abstract

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and other carbonyl and oxidative stress compounds are supposed to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of several diseases and their complications, i.e., diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, atherosclerosis, and chronic renal failure. In the present investigation, we were interested in the relationship of AGEs in plasma to other prominent factors in the patients on chronic hemodialysis treatment—27 patients with diabetes mellitus, 35 patients without diabetes mellitus. AGE-group reactivity was estimated using a spectrofluorometric method (excitation 350 nm, emission 430 nm) and is expressed in arbitrary units (AU). We found significantly higher AGEs levels in diabetics than in non-diabetics on regular hemodialysis treatment both before (2.7 ± 0.7 × 10⁴ AU vs. 2.2 ± 0.6 × 10⁴ AU, p<0.001) and after the dialysis session (2.3 ± 0.5 × 10⁴ AU vs. 1.8 ± 0.7 × 10⁴ AU, p<0.005). AGEs were significantly reduced during hemodialysis in both groups of patients—by 15.4 % in the diabetic go (p<0.001) and by 17.3% in non-diabetics (p<0.005). In the patients with diabetes mellitus, AGEs did not correlate with parameters of the glucose metabolism correction (blood glucose, HbA1c). We observed a significant correlation between AGEs and leptin (r = 0.48, p < 0.05) as well as the leptin/body fat ratio (r = 0.56, p < 0.05) only in hemodialyzed patients with diabetes mellitus. These findings suggest more detailed studies to identify the molecular links between carbonyl stress, i.e., advanced glycation end products, and leptin metabolism, sign of microinflammation and hypertension.

• Advanced glycation end products
• Leptin; Hemodialysis
• Diabetes mellitus
• Oxidative stress
• Carbonyl stress