Aims: Osteoprotegerin (OPG) has been linked to different diabetes complications, including cardiovascular disease, and new findings have indicated a specific role in diabetic peripheral neuropathy, but the exact mechanism is unknown. To investigate a possible association between OPG and diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy, we therefore analysed plasma OPG in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients with and without peripheral neuropathy.
Subjects and methods: Two hundred Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients and 305 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients participated in the study. Plasma OPG was measured with a sandwich immunoassay. Peripheral neuropathy was assessed by the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test.
Results: In T2DM, plasma OPG concentrations were significantly higher in the peripheral neuropathy group (P < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between the presence of neuropathy in T2DM and plasma OPG levels on logistic regression (P = 0.006). However, when investigated in a full multiple regression model including other long-term diabetes complications, the association became insignificant (P = 0.092). In T1DM, the difference in plasma OPG between groups did not reach significance (P = 0.066). However, plasma OPG significantly correlated to peripheral neuropathy in this group also (P = 0.022), although this correlation was not significant in a multiple linear regression model (P = 0.051).
Conclusion: Plasma OPG levels are related to peripheral neuropathy in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, although with the strongest relationship in T2DM. Before understanding the significance of this, the pathological mechanism involved and, speculatively, a possible use of plasma OPG as a peripheral sensory neuropathy marker, a larger prospective study is needed.