Relationship between TNF-α level and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes

Objective:To investigate the relationship between serum tumour necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods:The level of TNF-α was measured in 101 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, 27 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance(IGT) and 18 control subjects(C). Homeostasis model assessment(HOMA) was applied to assess the status of insulin resistance.Results:The results showed the levels of TC, TG, insulin of fasting and after glucose load, TNF-α, HOMA-IR and body fat percentage(BF%) were significantly increased and their HDL-C was remarkably decreased in the subjects of T2DM and IGT compared with control subjects. Stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis showed that FBG, BMI, TNF-α and TG were the main risk factors leading to insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (β=0.451, 0.245, 0.218, 0.162, respectively; P=0.000, 0.001, 0.003, 0.030, respectively).In all the subjects, TNF-α level was correlated to DBP, FBG, BG2h, FINS, LDL-C, TC, HOMA-IR and BF(r= 0.218, 0.374, 0.317, 0.293,0.218, 0.215,0.422, 0.200, respectively) and was not associated with BMI and WHR.Conclusions:The level of TNF-α is increased in Type 2 diabetes(T2DM), which probably aggravates insulin resistance.