Too Much Of A Key Protein Observed In Type 2 Diabetes Patients

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which blood sugar is higher than it should be and too much insulin is produced to counter this blood sugar increase. Patients with this disease have increased levels of triglycerides -- the most important type of fat -- in their blood and high levels of a chemical called triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TRL) that carries cholesterol and fats in the blood and is produced in the intestines. But how TRL accumulates in the blood is not well understood.

Patrick Couture and colleagues discovered that overaccumulation of TRL is due to an increased production of lipoproteins that contain proteins called apolipoprotein B-48 and apolipoprotein B-100, which are known to cause heart disease. The scientists also showed that the breakdown of these proteins was reduced, further contributing to their build-up. These results may help devise treatments that reduce the production of apolipoprotein B-48 and apolipoprotein B-100 in type 2 diabetes patients, thus reducing their risks of developing heart disease.

Article: "Evidence of Increased Secretion of Apolipoprotein B-48-Containing Lipoproteins in Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes and Severe Hypertriglyceridemia," by Jean-Charles Hogue, Benoit Lamarche, Andre J Tremblay, Jean Bergeron, Claude Gagne, and Patrick Couture, Journal of Lipid Research (Vol. 48, No. 6)