Fasting apolipoprotein B48 is a marker for peripheral arterial disease in type 2 diabetes.

An earlier study showed that fasting and postprandial concentrations of apolipoprotein B48 were raised in patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) as compared with persons without DM2 or persons with DM2 but not PAD. The aim of this study was to confirm the association of PAD and B48 in a larger group of patients with DM2 and the relation of B48 with the preheparin lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mass. We studied 456 patients with DM2. PAD was defined as an ankle-brachial index (ABI) <0.9. Apolipoprotein B48 was quantified by ELISA. Apo B48 was significantly higher in the group with an ABI <0.9 than the groups with ABI of 0.9-1.3 and >1.3 (10.7 ± 6.28 vs. 9.24 ± 5.5 vs. 9.17 ± 8.8 mg/L, ANOVA test, p < 0.05). B48 was independently associated with an ABI <0.9 (OR 1.053; 95 % CI, 1.013-1.094; p < 0.05), together with smoking and duration of diabetes. The preheparin LPL mass was similar in the patients with and without PAD. In conclusion, we confirmed that fasting B48 is an independent marker of PAD in patients with DM2, unrelated to the preheparin LPL mass, statin therapy or glucose lowering treatment.