Association of Serum Procalcitonin (PCT) and High- Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP) Levels with Insulin Resistance and Obesity in Type 2 Egyptian Diabetic Patients

Background: The link between obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance indicates the important secretory role of adipose tissue. Procalcitonin (PCT), a well-known biomarker of sepsis and bacterial infections is produced by adipose tissue and has potential as a marker for chronic low-grade inflammation. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate serum РCT levels in patients with Т2DМ and their correlations with obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic risk factors. Subjects: The study comprised 106 type 2 diabetic patients (46 male and 60 female, mean age 51.017.4 years), and 44 normal healthy subjects considered as control group (mean age 48.6111.0 years). Results: Type 2 diabetic patients showed higher mean levels of serum PCT and hsCRP than normal healthy subjects (1 10.7164.9 vs. 84.8141.0) ngIL, (243153vs. 214140.6) ng/mL respectively (p 0.05), with a highly significant positive correlation, between scrum PCT and BMI (r=.386; p--0.000), HOMA-IR (r--0.928; р=.000), and hsCRP (r-0.653; р=1.000) ngjmL in the diabetic group. Within the diabetic patients there were highly significant statistical differences between diabetic obese and diabetic non-obese as regard HOMA-IR (4.7711.21 vs 3.4711.05), hsCRP (249150 vs. 200158) ng/mL and PCT (118.7164.5 vs. 57.9138.1) ng/L, (p 0.01). By comparing between insulin resistance and non-insulin resistance diabetic patients there were highly significant statistical differences between them as regard hsCRP (265144 vs. 189131) ng/mL and PCT (135.5160.7 vs. 84.8141.0) ng/L, (p 0.01). Conclusions: Elevated serum procalcitonin levels are associated with obesity and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic patients.