Monocyte Telomere Shortening and Oxidative DNA Damage in Type 2 Diabetes

Pathophysiology/Complications

¹Bertram Diabetes Research Unit, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital National Health Service Trust, Norwich, U.K.
²Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, U.K.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Mike Sampson, Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre, NorfolkNorwich University Hospital National Health Service Trust, Norwich NR4 7UA, U.K. E-mail: mike.sampson{at}nnuh.nhs.uk

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Figure 1—
Relationship between oxidative DNA damage and telomere length in type 2 diabetes PBMCs and lymphocytes. Data shown for 21 type 2 diabetic patients for all PBMCs (upper panel), naïve T-cells (middle panel), and memory T-cells (lower panel). MESF by flow-fluorescent in situ hybridization and DNA damage by flow cytometry of 8-oxoguanine as described in text. Regression line and 95% CI for regression shown.

Table 1—

Clinical features of type 2 diabetes and control groups

	Control subjects	Type 2 diabetes
n	28	21
Age (years)	61.2 ± 5.3	62.0 ± 5.6
Diabetes duration (years)	—	3.0 (6.5)
Waist-to-hip ratio	0.92 ± 0.04	0.93 ± 0.07
BMI (kg/m²)	17.3 ± 3.3	29.5 ± 3.6*
Fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l)	4.9 ± 0.5	9.1 ± 2.5†
Fasting plasma insulin (mU/l)	58.4 ± 30	51.8 ± 21
2-h plasma glucose (mmol/l)	5.8 ± 1.4	17.7 ± 4†
2-h plasma insulin (mU/l)	305 ± 230	170 ± 127*
HOMA-insulin resistance	13.0 ± 7	21.1 ± 10*
A1C (%)	5.4 ± 0.3	7.9 ± 1.5†
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	140 ± 19	141 ± 14
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg	87 ± 11	82 ± 6
Plasma total cholesterol (mmol/l)	5.4 ± 0.8	4.7 ± 0.7*
Plasma HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.3 ± 0.4	1.1 ± 0.3*
Plasma tryiglycerides (mmol/l)	1.3 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 1.6
Plasma LDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	3.5 ± 0.7	2.2 ± 0.6†
hsCRP (μg/l)	905 (969)	801 (1,045)

Data are means ± SD or median (interquartile range); all study subjects were male and receiving no medication.
*
↵* P < 0.05;
†
↵† P < 0.0001.

Table 2—

Telomere length and oxidative DNA damage in subjects with or without type 2 diabetes

Data are means ± SD. Data as MESF for telomere length and mean fluorescent intensity for 8-oxoguanine as a marker of oxidative DNA damage. Monocyte-specific DNA damage was not measurable.