Low sortilin tied to worse metabolic outcomes in type 2 diabetes mellitus

In patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), suppressed levels of circulating sortilin are linked to worse metabolic profiles, a new study has found.

The study included 150 participants, of whom 75 (mean age, 50.62±8.81 years; 38 females) had newly diagnosed T2DM and the remaining 75 (mean age, 51.50±9.02 years; 37 females) had normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to measure circulating levels of sortilin. Metabolic parameters, such as insulin resistance and lipid profile, were set as study outcomes.

Sortilin was significantly lower in the T2DM patients than in controls (138.44±38.39 vs 184.93±49.67 pg/mL; p<0.001). The difference in concentration between diabetics with vs without metabolic syndrome was not statistically significant (136.57±37.23 vs 140.47±40.04 pg/mL; p=0.663).

Insulin resistance, as indicated by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), was greater in diabetics.

Pearson’s correlation analysis found that circulating sortilin levels were significantly and negatively associated with insulin resistance, insulin concentration, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride concentrations in diabetics only.

Multiple linear regression analysis further confirmed the inverse relationship between sortilin and HOMA-IR (β, –2.123; p=0.021), LDL-C (β, –1.976; p=0.033) and triglycerides (β, –2.014; p=0.039). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, on the other hand, emerged as a factor positively correlated with sortilin (β, 0.875; p=0.044).

“[W]e found that reduced the circulating levels of sortilin was associated with insulin resistance and unfavourable lipid profiles in subjects with newly diagnosed T2DM,” said researchers.