Investigation of plasma asprosin and saliva levels in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus patients treated with metformin.

BACKGROUND: Asprosin is a hormone that was first discovered in 2016 by Romere et al. Its secretion is induced in case of starvation. Asprosin promotes hepatic glucose release. There is no literature information available in humans to demonstrate how blood and saliva asprosin levels of patients with newly diagnosed T2DM changed after metformin treatment. We aim to examine these changes and contribute to the literature in this sense.
METHODS: A total of 60 individuals, 30 healthy volunteers, and 30 newly diagnosed cases of T2DM, whose treatment was initiated, were included in the study. Saliva and blood samples were collected from both groups. Serum and saliva asprosin levels were measured by the ELISA method. Asprosin synthesis sites of salivary gland tissues were determined immunohistochemically.
RESULTS: When the healthy control group and the newly diagnosed T2DM group were compared in terms of plasma asprosin levels and it was found that the asprosin levels were higher in the newly diagnosed T2DM group (P = 0.003). In terms of saliva asprosin levels, when the healthy control group and the newly diagnosed T2DM group were compared, saliva asprosin levels were found to be higher in the newly diagnosed T2DM group (P < 0.001). With the immunohistochemical staining, asprosin immunoreactivity was observed in the submandibular and parotid glands.
CONCLUSIONS: In our study, serum and saliva asprosin levels increased significantly in newly diagnosed individuals with Type 2 diabetes and it suggests that asprosin may be an important risk factor associated with the development of T2DM, that asprosin level measurements are an important marker for predicting diabetes development and that this hormone can be considered as a target molecule in the treatment of diabetes.