Published online Mar 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i3.279
Peer-review started: October 27, 2022
First decision: December 12, 2022
Revised: December 21, 2022
Accepted: February 16, 2023
Article in press: February 16, 2023
Published online: March 15, 2023
Processing time: 139 Days and 14 Hours
The increase in urinary albumin excretion appeared in the early stage of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) independent of blood glucose and diabetic duration, which suggests that there may be other mechanisms involved in glomerular basement membrane damage during the progression of abnormal glucose metabolism. Identifying related factors and understanding the underlying mechanisms are helpful for the prevention of diabetic nephropathy.
Metabolic hormones have been confirmed to play an important role in the development of diabetes. Evidence that metabolic hormones also have renoprotective effects is needed to develop prevention measures.
This research intends to find the relationship between glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) secretion and microalbuminuria in untreated new type 2 diabetes patients.
Newly diagnosed T2DM patients were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) and active GLP-1 levels at 0 min, 30 min, 120 min and 180 min during a standard meal test were determined. We used multivariable linear regression analyses to detect the mean differences [B; 95% confidence interval (CI)] in LnUACR between patients with different quartiles of postprandial plasma GLP-1 levels, with the first quartile (Q1) set as the reference, to display the degree of influence of post plasma GLP-1 secretion on UACR. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze the impact of postprandial GLP-1 levels on the risk of microalbuminuria, which is shown as the odds rations (95%CIs) for microalbuminuria in different postprandial GLP-1 levels.
Ln30 min GLP-1, Ln120 min GLP-1 and the corresponding Ln [area under the curve for active GLP-1 (AUCGLP-1)] were negatively correlated with natural logarithm of UACR . The UACR of the patients in Q4 of postprandial GLP-1 levels was significantly higher than the UACR of the patients in Q1. The prevalence of microalbuminuria decreased with increasing quartiles of 30 min and 120 min and AUCGLP-1 levels. Logistic regression analysis revealed that after adjustment for other confounders, patients in Q4 of postprandial GLP-1 levels exhibited a decreased risk of microalbuminuria compared with those in Q1 by up to approximately 50%. The adjusted microalbuminuria risk for patients from Q4 of AUCGLP-1 levels was 0.547-fold (95%CI: 0.325 to 0.920).
Our study showed for the first time that higher postprandial GLP-1 levels after a standard meal were negatively associated with microalbuminuria in newly diagnosed T2DM patients independent of metabolic status. This finding adds clinical evidence for the renoprotective effect of GLP-1 in newly diagnosed T2DM patients.
Prospective studies should clarify the effect of measures that increase postprandial GLP-1 levels, including dietary strategies involving adjusting diet structure and meal sequence, on preventing and alleviating diabetic nephropathy in the early stage of diabetes.