Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and high sensitivity C-reactive protein in young patients with diabetes mellitus

Background Inflammatory markers like tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) have been thought to be associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). But their role in the development of diabetes in young is yet to be established. Aims To compare the concentrations of serum TNF-alpha and hsCRP between young subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and DM. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed with young subjects under 30 years of age consisting of 40 newly detected DM cases and an equal number of subjects with NGT diagnosed on the basis of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criterion-2017 to see TNF-alpha and hsCRP levels. Glucose was measured by the glucose oxidase method, hsCRP by immunonephelometry, and TNF-alpha by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results hsCRP was higher in DM than that of NGT [DM vs NGT: 3.41 (1.37-9.98) vs. 1.29 (0.68-2.65) pg/ml, median (IQR); p=0.003] but TNF-alpha was similar in both the groups (DM vs. NGT: 16.30 +/- 12.95 vs. 14.55 +/- 9.84 mg/L, mean +/- SD; p=0.201). Both body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were positively correlated with hsCRP (BMI: r=0.501, p=0.001; WC: r=0.409, p=0.009) in NGT but not in DM (BMI: r=0.287, p=0.072; WC: r=0.281, p=0.078). Multiple regression analysis revealed BMI (p=0.020), WC (p=0.022), and hsCRP (p=0.041) as independent predictors for DM. Conclusions This study observed that serum hsCRP but not serum TNF-alpha was significantly higher in DM in young than that of NGT.