Leptin and NGF in saliva of patients with diabetes mellitus type 2: a pilot study

Abstract

Aims

This study aimed to measure salivary levels of leptin and NGF in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and to compare with healthy subjects. In addition, markers previously evaluated in diabetes, including insulin, HGF and MCP-1, and markers of inflammation (IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α), were also measured in saliva in order to evaluate possible relationship of these markers with the new analytes evaluated in the study.

Methods

Unstimulated whole saliva was collected by passive drooling from a total of 65 individuals (34 controls and 31 with T2D) and used for leptin, NGF, HGF, MCP-1, insulin, IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α determination.

Results

Salivary leptin was 2.1 higher in DM than in healthy controls (P<0.001), while no statistically significant differences were detected between the two groups in salivary concentrations of NGF. Salivary IL-6, TNF-α, insulin and MCP-1 were higher in DM in comparison with controls (P<0.05 in all cases). Leptin showed positive significant correlations with MCP-1, IL-6, TNF-α, and insulin, while NGF positively correlated with HGF, MCP-1, IL-1 β, IL-6, and TNF-α

Conclusions

This pilot study indicates that salivary leptin is increased in patients with T2D being positively correlated with insulin and por-inflammatory cytokines and should be further explored as a non-invasive biomarker of diabetes mellitus. In addition salivary NGF was positively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines and further studies should be performed to evaluate if it could be useful to detect diabetic neuropathy in T2D patients.

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