Low Synthesis and High Absorption of Cholesterol Characterize Type 1 Diabetes

  1. Tatu A. Miettinen, MD1,
  2. Helena Gylling, MD2,
  3. Juha Tuominen, MD1,
  4. Piia Simonen, MD1 and
  5. Veikko Koivisto, MD1
  1. 1Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  2. 2Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
  3. 3Eli Lilly, Hamburg, Germany
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Tatu A. Miettinen, MD, Biomedicum Helsinki, C4 22, P.O. Box 700, FIN-00029 HUS, Finland. E-mail: tatu.a.miettinen{at}helsinki.fi

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—Streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes in experimental animals inhibits cholesterol synthesis and increases cholesterol absorption. In contrast to human type 2 diabetes, virtually no information is available on cholesterol synthesis and absorption in type 1 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We studied the variables of cholesterol metabolism in 27 patients with type 1 diabetes and in 10 patients with type 2 diabetes matched for body weight, using cholesterol precursor sterol ratios to cholesterol as surrogate markers of synthesis, and those of cholestanol and plant sterols of cholesterol absorption. Glucose control was good in all subjects.

RESULTS—Total and HDL cholesterol and LDL triglycerides were higher in type 2 than in type 1 diabetes. Serum sterols, measured also in VLDL, intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL), LDL, and HDL, were transported up to >90% by LDL and HDL in type 1 diabetes. The ratios of all absorption sterols in serum and in each lipoprotein were higher, and those of the synthesis markers, especially cholestenol and lathosterol, were lower in type 1 than in type 2 diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS—In contrast to type 2 diabetes, the findings in type 1 diabetes could be related to low expression of ABC G/5 G/8 genes, resulting in high absorption of cholesterol and sterols in general and low synthesis of cholesterol.

Footnotes

  • A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances.

    • Accepted September 23, 2003.
    • Received August 10, 2003.
« Previous | Next Article »Table of Contents

This Article

  1. doi: 10.2337/diacare.27.1.53 Diabetes Care January 2004 vol. 27 no. 1 53-58
  1. » Abstract
  2. Full Text
  3. Full Text (PDF)

Current Issue

  1. November 2009, 32 (11)
  1. Current Issue
  1. Alert me to new issues of Diabetes Care