Researchers from Granada find biomarkers to detect cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes
Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than the rest of the population, and this represents one of the main causes of mortality in this type of patient.
A better understanding of the factors involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases and the discovery of new biomarkers of the disease could help in the early identification of high-risk patients.
Type 2 diabetes It is the most widespread, and affects around 12% -14% of the population, in Spain around 5 million patients.
This type of diabetes is more common in people over 40 years of age, although it is increasingly common in younger subjects and is related to obesity; It has been called adult diabetes or obesity-related diabetes. It can be present with very few symptoms for a long time.
Thanks to the multidisciplinary collaboration of the research groups of the MEDINA Foundation located in the PTS of Granada and of the UGC (Clinical Management Unit) of Endocrinology and Nutrition of the University Hospital Complex of Granada and the ibs.GRANADA, they have been able to take carried out these studies.
The studies have been carried out using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. The metabolomic profile in serum of 30 subjects distributed according to three groups was analyzed: (i) patients with diabetes mellitus with cardiovascular pathologies; (ii) patients with diabetes mellitus without cardiovascular pathologies; and (iii) non-diabetic subjects as controls, in order to identify potential biomarkers of cardiovascular disease related to diabetes mellitus.
The analysis of the experimental results using different statistical tools has made it possible to identify four glycerophospholipids as potential biomarkers of cardiovascular pathologies in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Specifically, a reduction in the levels of phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, and lysophosphatidylethanolamine has been observed in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic controls.
These results show a generalized reduction of phospholipid species in patients with type 2 diabetes, which is more pronounced in those patients with cardiovascular diseases and provides information on the pathways involved in the pathogenesis and progression of cardiovascular diseases associated with type diabetes. two.
The results of this, extracted from this pilot study, could in the future be translated into an early diagnosis of cardiovascular risk in the population affected by type 2 diabetes, that is, through a blood sample we can have a clearer idea of how it will evolve diabetic disease with respect to cardiovascular disease, that is, using this diagnostic biomarker we could determine the percentage of risk that those patients already with a high risk factor for being type 2 diabetic will run to develop a heart disease or cardiovascular disease .
About MEDINA Foundation
The MEDINA Foundation (Center of Excellence in Research on Innovative Medicines in Andalusia) is a non-profit research center established in Granada from the alliance between the Junta de Andalucía, the University of Granada and Merck Sharp and Dohme de España SA The MEDINA Foundation has one of the largest and most diverse libraries of natural products of microbial origin with a long list of successes in the discovery of new drug candidates in the pharmaceutical sector. Fundación MEDINA has unique experience in microbiology, natural product chemistry, high-density screening, as well as analytics and metabolomics and develops drug discovery programs in infectious diseases (including tuberculosis and parasitic diseases), oncology and rare diseases. The MEDINA Foundation establishes collaborations and research contracts with pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies for the discovery of new drugs or high-value biotechnological products.
About the Metabolism Research Group Bone and Biomarkers of the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA).
The Bone Metabolism and Biomarkers Research Group of the ibs.GRANADA is led by Professor Manuel Muñoz Torres (Coordinator of the Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases area of the Institute) of the UGC Endocrinology and Nutrition of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Granada. Dr. Beatriz García Fontana and other members of the Group have participated in this project that is part of the line of research on biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus. Translational research in multidisciplinary projects is one of the objectives of the Group that has consolidated a solid scientific production in recent years.