The Role of Gut Hormones and Hepcidin in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Iron overload and mechanisms inducing insulin resistance are reciprocally linked. Dietary iron absorption, and iron uptake in liver and adipose tissue, are regulated through the hormone hepcidin. Iron is implicated in microvascular and macrovascular disease pathways and therefore hepcidin may represent a biomarker for progression to complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Serum pancreatic polypeptide levels correlate with visceral adiposity and may therefore contribute to the diagnosis of, and risk stratification in, the metabolic syndrome. Hypothesis: Measuring iron status, incretin hormones and serum pancreatic polypeptide will facilitate discrimination of patients at risk of vascular complications of T2DM and clinically significant non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Statistical analysis: Serum/plasma level of hormone under investigation corrected for age, sex, BMI, diabetes duration, blood pressure, lipid profile, smoking status, treatment for diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia, and HbA1c using multinomial logistic regression and Cox regression models.