Clinical association of circulating VEGF-B levels with hyperlipidemia and target organ damage in type 2 diabetic patients.

Vascular endothelial growth factor-B (VEGF-B is an important member of the VEGF protein family. Recent animal studies indicated that VEGF-B signaling had determinant roles in insulin resistance, lipid distribution and metabolism in type 2 diabetes. The clinical significance of VEGF-B in type 2 diabetes is still not clear. This study aimed to correlate VEGF-B levels with biochemistry characteristics and target organ damage in type 2 diabetic patients. Serum VEGF-B levels were measured using ELISA. A crosssectional control study, which included 180 type 2 diabetic patients and 62 healthy subjects, was carried out. Diabetic patients who were undergoing insulin therapy were not included. This results showed that serum VEGF-B levels did not differ between the type 2 diabetic patients and the healthy controls (169.2∓118.8 vs 163.5∓115.2 pg/mL; P=0.734). VEGF-B levels in type 2 diabetic patients were significantly associated with the levels of c-peptide, total cholesterol and triglyceride. T-test analysis showed that the associations of serum VEGF-B levels with insulin resistance, pancreatic reserve, HDL and LDL were not significant. Regression analysis showed that VEGF-B levels were significantly correlated with diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy. No significant association between VEGF-B and macro-vasculopathy was found. In conclusion, our study findings suggested that VEGF-B levels did not differ between the type 2 diabetic patients and the normal controls. High VEGF-B levels might correlate with the presence of hyperlipidemia and target organ damage in type 2 diabetic patients.