GALNT2 as a novel modulator of adipogenesis and adipocyte insulin signaling

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

A better understanding of adipose tissue biology is crucial to tackle insulin resistance and eventually coronary heart disease and diabetes, leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. GALNT2, a GalNAc-transferase, positively modulates insulin signaling in human liver cells by down-regulating ENPP1, an insulin signaling inhibitor. GALNT2 expression is increased in adipose tissue of obese as compared to that of non-obese individuals. Whether this association is secondary to a GALNT2-insulin sensitizing effect exerted also in adipocytes is unknown. We then investigated in mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes the GALNT2 effect on adipogenesis, insulin signaling and expression levels of both Enpp1 and 72 adipogenesis-related genes.

METHODS

Stable over-expressing GALNT2 and GFP preadipocytes (T0) were generated. Adipogenesis was induced with (R+) or without (R-) rosiglitazone and investigated after 15 days (T15). Lipid accumulation (by Oil Red-O staining) and intracellular triglycerides (by fluorimetric assay) were measured. Lipid droplets (LD) measures were analyzed at confocal microscope. Gene expression was assessed by RT-PCR and insulin-induced insulin receptor (IR), IRS1, JNK and AKT phosphorylation by Western blot.

RESULTS

Lipid accumulation, triglycerides and LD measures progressively increased from T0 to T15R- and furthermore to T15R+. Such increases were significantly higher in GALNT2 than in GFP cells so that, as compared to T15R+GFP, T15R- GALNT2 cells showed similar (intracellular lipid and triglycerides accumulation) or even higher (LD measures, p < 0.01) values. In GALNT2 preadipocytes, insulin-induced IR, IRS1 and AKT activation was higher than that in GFP cells. GALNT2 effect was totally abolished during adipocyte maturation and completely reversed at late stage maturation. Such GALNT2 effect trajectory was paralleled by coordinated changes in the expression of Enpp1 and adipocyte-maturation key genes.

CONCLUSIONS

GALNT2 is a novel modulator of adipogenesis and related cellular phenotypes, thus becoming a potential target for tackling the obesity epidemics and its devastating sequelae.

Acute post-traumatic hydrocephalus in children due to aqueductal obstruction by blood clot: a series of 6 patients

INTRODUCTION

Post-traumatic hydrocephalus following head injury is a well-known entity. Most cases occur in patients with severe head injuries, often following decompressive craniectomy. On the contrary, acute post-traumatic hydrocephalus, caused by aqueductal obstruction by a blood clot, following mild head injury is uncommon.

CLINICAL MATERIAL

Six patients aged between 6 and 15 months presented hydrocephalus secondary to a blood clot in the aqueduct. Because of intracranial hypertension at presentation, 4 patients were urgently treated with external ventricular drains (EVDs). Post-operative course was uneventful. In 2 cases, EVDs were removed without further treatments. In 2 cases, hydrocephalus recurred. These patients were successfully treated with endoscopic third ventriculostomy. The remaining two patients developed symptoms a few days after the trauma. One, that presented hydrocephalus at imaging, was managed with a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt; the other, that presented subdural hygroma, was managed with subduro-peritoneal shunt that was removed later. All patients had complete recovery.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Hydrocephalus secondary to clot in the aqueduct may rarely be the result of mild head injury in young children. Usually, prompt surgical management warrants a very good outcome. Most children may be treated without a permanent shunt, by using external drains and endoscopic third ventriculostomy.

Estimation of Mortality Risk in Type 2 Diabetic Patients (ENFORCE): An Inexpensive and Parsimonious Prediction Model

CONTEXT

We previously developed and validated an inexpensive and parsimonious prediction model of 2-year all-cause mortality in real-life patients with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE

This model, now named ENFORCE (EstimatioN oF mORtality risk in type 2 diabetiC patiEnts), was investigated in terms of (i) prediction performance at 6 years, a more clinically useful time-horizon; (ii) further validation in an independent sample; and (iii) performance comparison in a real-life vs a clinical trial setting.

DESIGN

Observational prospective randomized clinical trial.

SETTING

White patients with type 2 diabetes.

PATIENTS

Gargano Mortality Study (GMS; n = 1019), Foggia Mortality Study (FMS; n = 1045), and Pisa Mortality Study (PMS; n = 972) as real-life samples and the standard glycemic arm of the ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) clinical trial (n = 3150).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The endpoint was all-cause mortality. Prediction accuracy and calibration were estimated to assess the model's performances.

RESULTS

ENFORCE yielded 6-year mortality C-statistics of 0.79, 0.78, and 0.75 in GMS, FMS, and PMS, respectively (P heterogeneity = 0.71). Pooling the three cohorts showed a 6-year mortality C-statistic of 0.80. In the ACCORD trial, ENFORCE achieved a C-statistic of 0.68, a value significantly lower than that obtained in the pooled real-life samples (P < 0.0001). This difference resembles that observed with other models comparing real-life vs clinical trial settings, thus suggesting it is a true, replicable phenomenon.

CONCLUSIONS

The time horizon of ENFORCE has been extended to 6 years and validated in three independent samples. ENFORCE is a free and user-friendly risk calculator of all-cause mortality in white patients with type 2 diabetes from a real-life setting.

A functional variant of the dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase-2 gene is associated with myocardial infarction in type 2 diabetic patients

Background

Myocardial infarction is the main mortality cause in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Endothelial dysfunction due to reduced bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) is an early step of atherogenesis. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous inhibitor of NO synthesis, and it is metabolized by the enzymes dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) 1 and 2. The functional variant rs9267551 C, in the promoter region of DDAH2, has been linked to increased DDAH2 expression, and lower ADMA plasma levels, and was associated with lower risk of coronary artery disease in large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) performed in the general population. However, it is unknown whether this association holds true in T2DM patients. To address this issue, we investigated whether rs9267551 is associated with risk of myocardial infarction in two cohorts of T2DM patients.

Methods

SNP rs9267551 was genotyped in 1839 White T2DM patients from the Catanzaro Study (CZ, n = 1060) and the Gargano Heart Study-cross sectional design (GHS, n = 779). Cases were patients with a previous myocardial infarction, controls were asymptomatic patients with neither previous myocardial ischemia nor signs of it at resting and during a maximal symptom limited stress electrocardiogram.

Results

Carriers of allele rs9267551 C showed a dose dependent reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction [(CZ = OR 0.380, 95% CI 0.175–0.823, p = 0.014), (GHS = 0.497, 0.267–0.923, p = 0.027), (Pooled = 0.458, 0.283–0.739, p = 0.001)] which remained significant after adjusting for sex, age, BMI, smoking, HbA1c, total cholesterol HDL, and triglyceride levels [(CZ = 0.307, 0.106–0.885, p = 0.029), (GHS = 0.512, 0.270–0.970, p = 0.040), (Pooled = 0.458, 0.266–0.787, p = 0.005)].

Conclusions

We found that rs9267551 polymorphism is significantly associated with myocardial infarction in T2DM patients of European ancestry from two independent cohorts. It is possible that in subjects carrying the protective C allele less ADMA accumulates in endothelial cells causing vascular protection as a consequence of higher nitric oxide availability.

Association of a homozygous GCK missense mutation with mild diabetes

Background

Homozygous inactivating GCK mutations have been repeatedly reported to cause severe hyperglycemia, presenting as permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus (PNDM). Conversely, only two cases of GCK homozygous mutations causing mild hyperglycemia have been so far described. We here report a novel GCK mutation (c.1116G>C, p.E372D), in a family with one homozygous member showing mild hyperglycemia.

Methods

GCK mutational screening was carried out by Sanger sequencing. Computational analyses to investigate pathogenicity and molecular dynamics (MD) were performed for GCK‐E372D and for previously described homozygous mutations associated with mild (n = 2) or severe (n = 1) hyperglycemia, used as references.

Results

Of four mildly hyperglycemic family‐members, three were heterozygous and one, diagnosed in the adulthood, was homozygous for GCK‐E372D. Two nondiabetic family members carried no mutations. Fasting glucose (p = 0.016) and HbA1c (p = 0.035) correlated with the number of mutated alleles (0–2).

In‐silico predicted pathogenicity was not correlated with the four mutations’ severity. At MD, GCK‐E372D conferred protein structure flexibility intermediate between mild and severe GCK mutations.

Conclusions

We present the third case of homozygous GCK mutations associated with mild hyperglycemia, rather than PNDM. Our in‐silico analyses support previous evidences suggesting that protein stability plays a role in determining clinical severity of GCK mutations.

Genetic characterization of suspected MODY patients in Tunisia by targeted next-generation sequencing

AIMS

Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) is a monogenic form of diabetes with autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. The diagnosis of MODY and its subtypes is based on genetic testing. Our aim was investigating MODY by means of next-generation sequencing in the Tunisian population.

METHODS

We performed a targeted sequencing of 27 genes known to cause monogenic diabetes in 11 phenotypically suspected Tunisian patients. We retained genetic variants passing filters of frequency in public databases as well as their probable effects on protein structures and functions evaluated by bioinformatics prediction tools.

RESULTS

Five heterozygous variants were found in four patients. They include two mutations in HNF1A and GCK that are the causative genes of the two most prevalent MODY subtypes described in the literature. Other possible mutations, including novel frameshift and splice-site variants were identified in ABCC8 gene.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study is the first to investigate the clinical application of targeted next-generation sequencing for the diagnosis of MODY in Africa. The combination of this approach with a filtering/prioritization strategy made a step towards the identification of MODY mutations in the Tunisian population.

Fine-scale haplotype mapping of MUT, AACS, SLC6A15 and PRKCA genes indicates association with insulin resistance of metabolic syndrome and relationship with branched chain amino acid metabolism or regulation

Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) are essential elements of the human diet, which display increased plasma levels in obesity and regained particular interest as potential biomarkers for development of diabetes. To define determinants of insulin resistance (IR) we investigated 73 genes involved in BCAA metabolism or regulation by fine-scale haplotype mapping in two European populations with metabolic syndrome. French and Romanians (n = 465) were genotyped for SNPs (Affymetrix) and enriched by imputation (BEAGLE 4.1) at 1000 genome project density. Initial association hits detected by sliding window were refined (HAPLOVIEW 3.1 and PHASE 2.1) and correlated to homeostasis model assessment (HOMAIR) index, in vivo insulin sensitivity (SI) and BCAA plasma levels (ANOVA). Four genomic regions were associated with IR located downstream of MUT, AACS, SLC6A15 and PRKCA genes (P between 9.3 and 3.7 x 10-5). Inferred haplotypes up to 13 SNPs length were associated with IR (e.g. MUT gene with P < 4.9 x 10-5; Bonferroni 1.3 x 10-3) and synergistic to HOMAIR. SNPs in the same regions were also associated with one order of magnitude lower P values (e.g. rs20167284 in the MUT gene with P < 1.27 x 10-4) and replicated in Mediterranean samples (n = 832). In French, influential haplotypes (OR > 2.0) were correlated with in vivo insulin sensitivity (1/SI) except for SLC6A15 gene. Association of these genes with BCAA levels was variable, but influential haplotypes confirmed implication of MUT from BCAA metabolism as well as a role of regulatory genes (AACS and PRKCA) and suggested potential changes in transcriptional activity. These data drive attention towards new regulatory regions involved in IR in relation with BCAA and show the ability of haplotypes in phased DNA to detect signals complimentary to SNPs, which may be useful in designing genetic markers for clinical applications in ethnic populations.

Circulating adiponectin levels are paradoxically associated with mortality rate. A systematic review and meta-analysis

CONTEXT

Some studies have surprisingly indicated that serum adiponectin is positively related to mortality rate, thus casting doubts on its role as a therapeutic target for cardiovascular disease.

OBJECTIVE

To summarize evidence about direction, strength and modulators of this controversial association.

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINHAL, Cochrane Library and Scopus from inception through June 2018.

STUDY SELECTION

English-language prospective studies reporting the association between adiponectin and all-cause or cardiovascular mortality.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two investigators independently extracted data and assessed study quality using standard criteria following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses and The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, respectively. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals-CIs) were derived using a fixed or random effects models when appropriated and were expressed for one standard deviation (SD) increment of adiponectin.

DATA SYNTHESIS

We identified fifty-five (n=61,676 subjects) and twenty-eight (n=43,979 subjects) studies for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively. Pooled HRs, were 1.24 (1.17-1.31) and 1.28 (1.19-1.37) for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively. Similar results were obtained also for High Molecular Weight adiponectin. When meta-analyses were restricted to studies reporting data on natriuretic peptides a 43% and 28% reduction on a log scale of these associations were observed after natriuretic peptides adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results strongly points to a paradoxical association between high adiponectin levels and increased mortality rate, which is partly modulated by natriuretic peptides.

Branched-Chain Amino Acid Database Integrated in MEDIPAD Software as a Tool for Nutritional Investigation of Mediterranean Populations

Branched-chained amino acids (BCAA) are essential dietary components for humans and can act as potential biomarkers for diabetes development. To efficiently estimate dietary intake, we developed a BCAA database for 1331 food items found in the French Centre d'Information sur la Qualité des Aliments (CIQUAL) food table by compiling BCAA content from international tables, published measurements, or by food similarity as well as by calculating 267 items from Greek, Turkish, Romanian, and Moroccan mixed dishes. The database embedded in MEDIPAD software capable of registering 24 h of dietary recalls (24HDR) with clinical and genetic data was evaluated based on archived 24HDR of the Saint Pierre Institute (France) from 2957 subjects, which indicated a BCAA content up to 4.2 g/100 g of food and differences among normal weight and obese subjects across BCAA quartiles. We also evaluated the database of 119 interviews of Romanians, Turkish and Albanians in Greece (27⁻65 years) during the MEDIGENE program, which indicated mean BCAA intake of 13.84 and 12.91 g/day in males and females, respectively, comparable to other studies. The MEDIPAD is user-friendly, multilingual, and secure software and with the BCAA database is suitable for conducting nutritional assessment in the Mediterranean area with particular facilities for food administration.

The rs12917707 polymorphism at the UMOD locus and glomerular filtration rate in individuals with type 2 diabetes: evidence of heterogeneity across two different European populations

Background

UMOD variability has been associated at a genome-wide level of statistical significance with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in Swedish individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D; n = 4888). Whether this finding is extensible also to diabetic patients from other populations deserves further study. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between UMOD variability and GFR in patients with T2D from Italy.

Methods

Genotyping of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12917707 at the UMOD locus has been carried out in 3087 individuals from four independent Italian cohorts of patients with T2D by TaqMan allele discrimination.

Results

In none of the four study cohorts was rs12917707 significantly associated with GFR (P > 0.05 for all). Similar results were obtained when the four samples were pooled and analyzed together (β = 0.83, P = 0.19). Such effect was strikingly smaller than that previously reported in Swedish patients (P for heterogeneity = 1.21 × 10-7).

Conclusions

The previously reported strong association between rs12917707 and GFR in diabetic patients from Sweden is not observed in Italian diabetic patients, thus clearly pointing to a heterogeneous effect across the two different samples. This suggests that UMOD is a strong genetic determinant of kidney function in patients with T2D in some, but not all, populations.

The Adiponectin Paradox for All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality

Basic science studies have shown beneficial effects of adiponectin on glucose homeostasis, chronic low-grade inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and atherosclerotic processes, so this molecule usually has been considered a salutary adipokine. It was therefore quite unexpected that large prospective human studies suggested that adiponectin is simply a marker of glucose homeostasis, with no direct favorable effect on the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But even more unforeseen were data addressing the role of adiponectin on the risk of death. In fact, a positive, rather than the expected negative, relationship was reported between adiponectin and mortality rate across many clinical conditions, comprising diabetes. The biology underlying this paradox is unknown. Several explanations have been proposed, including adiponectin resistance and the confounding role of natriuretic peptides. In addition, preliminary genetic evidence speaks in favor of a direct role of adiponectin in increasing the risk of death. However, none of these hypotheses are based on robust data, so further efforts are needed to unravel the elusive role of adiponectin on cardiometabolic health and, most important, its paradoxical association with mortality rate.

Insights From Molecular Characterization of Adult Patients of Families With Multigenerational Diabetes

Multigenerational diabetes of adulthood is a mostly overlooked entity, simplistically lumped into the large pool of type 2 diabetes. The general aim of our research in the past few years is to unravel the genetic causes of this form of diabetes. Identifying among families with multigenerational diabetes those who carry mutations in known monogenic diabetes genes is the first step to then allow us to concentrate on remaining pedigrees in which to unravel new diabetes genes. Targeted next-generation sequencing of 27 monogenic diabetes genes was carried out in 55 family probands and identified mutations verified among their relatives by Sanger sequencing. Nine variants (in eight probands) survived our filtering/prioritization strategy. After likelihood of causality assessment by established guidelines, six variants were classified as "pathogenetic/likely pathogenetic" and two as "of uncertain significance." Combining present results with our previous data on the six genes causing the most common forms of maturity-onset diabetes of the young allows us to infer that 23.6% of families with multigenerational diabetes of adulthood carry mutations in known monogenic diabetes genes. Our findings indicate that the genetic background of hyperglycemia is unrecognized in the vast majority of families with multigenerational diabetes of adulthood. These families now become the object of further research aimed at unraveling new diabetes genes.

Familial diabetes of adulthood: A bin of ignorance that needs to be addressed

AIMS

The aim of this article was to share with a wide readership some data and related reasoning about a multigenerational form of diabetes mellitus of adulthood.

DATA SYNTHESIS

We have recently described a familial form of diabetes mellitus, which in the routine clinical setting of adult individuals is simplistically diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Such misdiagnosis involves as much as 3% of adult unrelated diabetic patients with no evidence of autoimmune disease. More recent data, obtained by means of a next-generation sequencing, indicate that approximately 25% of such patients carry mutations in the genes involved in monogenic diabetes, thus leaving unraveled the molecular causes of the remaining 75% individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our proposal is to define the latter patients as being affected by familial diabetes of adulthood (FDA), a clear admission of ignorance and a limbo where adult patients with multigenerational diabetes with no genetic definition of their hyperglycemia have to wait for better times.

Insulin receptor signaling and glucagon-like peptide 1 effects on pancreatic beta cells

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a potent gluco-incretin hormone, which plays a central role on pancreatic beta cell proliferation, survival and insulin secreting activity and whose analogs are used for treating hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Notably, abnormal insulin signaling affects all the above-mentioned aspects on pancreatic beta cells. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the protective effects of GLP1-1 on beta cells are affected by altered insulin receptor signaling. To this end, several effects of GLP-1 were studied in INS-1E rat beta cells transfected either with an inhibitor of insulin receptor function (i.e., the Ectonucleotide Pyrophosphatase Phosphodiesterase 1, ENPP1), or with insulin receptor small interfering RNA, as well as in control cells. Crucial experiments were carried out also in a second cell line, namely the βTC-1 mouse beta cells. Our data indicate that in insulin secreting beta cells in which either ENPP1 was up-regulated or insulin receptor was down-regulated, GLP-1 positive effects on several pancreatic beta cell activities, including glucose-induced insulin secretion, cell proliferation and cell survival, were strongly reduced. Further studies are needed to understand whether such a scenario occurs also in humans and, if so, if it plays a role of clinical relevance in diabetic patients with poor responsiveness to GLP-1 related treatments.

Pharmacogenetics of oral antidiabetes drugs: evidence for diverse signals at the IRS1 locus

To investigate the role of IRS1 locus on failure to oral antidiabetes drugs (OADs) we genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2943641, rs7578326 (tagging all SNPs genome-wide associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related traits at this locus) and rs1801278 (that is, the loss-of-function IRS1 G972R amino acid substitution) in 2662 patients with T2D. Although no association with OAD failure was observed for rs2943641 and rs7578326 SNPs (odds ratio (OR): 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93-1.16 and OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.87-1.09 respectively), a significant association was observed for rs1801278 (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.08-1.66). When meta-analyzed with previous published data, an allelic OR of 1.41 (1.15-1.72; P=0.001) was obtained, so that homozygous R972R individuals have >80% higher risk of failing to OADs as compared with their G972G counterparts. In all, though further studies are needed for confirming this finding, our present data point to IRS1 rs1801278 as a potential biomarker for pursuing the goal of stratified medicine in the field of antihyperglycemic treatment in T2D.

GALNT2 effect on HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides levels in humans: Evidence of pleiotropy?

A wide range of studies both in humans and animal models point GALNT2 as a shaper of serum HDL-C and TG levels. Available data in humans indicate that, while under conditions of extreme GALNT2 loss-of-function HDL-C is the main target, a fine-tuning of GALNT2 changes is mostly associated with TG levels. Understanding whether different degrees of GALNT2 change do modulate different serum lipid fractions and, if so, addressing the mechanisms underlying such pleiotropic effects has the potential not only to improve our understanding of HDL-C and TG metabolism, but also to make GALNT2 becoming a target for treating atherogenic dyslipidemia and related clinical events.

Suggestive evidence of a multi-cytokine resistin pathway in humans and its role on cardiovascular events in high-risk individuals

In cells and tissues resistin affects IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12 and TNF-α expression, thus suggesting the existence of a multi-cytokine “resistin pathway”. We investigated whether such pathway does exist in humans and, if so, if it is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Serum cytokines were measured in 280 healthy subjects from the Gargano Study 2 (GS2) whose BMI, waist circumference, HOMA_IR, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure data were available and in 353 patients with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease from the Gargano Heart Study (GHS)-prospective design (follow-up 5.4 ± 2.5 years; 71 MACE). In GS2, cytokines mRNA levels in white blood cells were also measured. In GS2, resistin mRNA was correlated with all cytokines expression (all p < 0.001), but IL-12B. Consistently, serum resistin was correlated with all serum cytokines (all p < 0.001), but IL-12. Expression (eRPS) and serum (sRPS) resistin pathway scores (excluding IL-12) were each other correlated (p < 0.001) and both associated with cardiovascular risk factors (all p < 0.01). In GHS, sRPS was independently associated with MACE (HR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.10–1.90). Our data indicate the existence of a resistin pathway, which is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and which strongly and independently predicts MACE.

On the non-linear association between serum uric acid levels and all-cause mortality rate in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

High levels of serum uric acid (SUA) are associated with increased mortality risk in the general population. Contrasting results are available in people with diabetes. The aim of our study was to investigate the association and its functional form between SUA and all cause-mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHODS

We studied three cohorts of patients with T2DM: Gargano Mortality Study, Foggia Mortality Study, Pisa Mortality Study. All-cause mortality rate was the end point of this study.

RESULTS

The most reliable relationship between SUA levels and all-cause mortality rate was quadratic, with such model being well approximated by SUA tertiles. Both tertiles 1 and 3 were at higher risk of mortality as compared to tertile 2: Hazard Ratio (HR) [95% Confidence Interval (CI)] = 1.34 (1.07-1.68) and 1.61 (1.29-1.99), respectively. In the pseudo-sample, created from the real pooled sample, the best relationship between SUA and all-cause mortality rate was quadratic. In a tree-based Recursive Partitioning and Regression Tree analysis two subgroups at increased risk of mortality were identified, namely those with SUA levels ≥7.28 mg/dl and with SUA levels <4.16 mg/dl as compared to patients with intermediate SUA levels (i.e. 4.16-7.28), thus providing further evidence on the J-shaped relationship between SUA levels and mortality rate.

CONCLUSIONS

SUA was not linearly associated with all-cause mortality rate in patients with T2DM. For clinical and public health purposes such association is J-shaped.

Clinical worthlessness of genetic prediction of common forms of diabetes mellitus and related chronic complications: A position statement of the Italian Society of Diabetology

AIM

We are currently facing several attempts aimed at marketing genetic data for predicting multifactorial diseases, among which diabetes mellitus is one of the more prevalent. The present document primarily aims at providing to practicing physicians a summary of available data regarding the role of genetic information in predicting diabetes and its chronic complications.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Firstly, general information about characteristics and performance of risk prediction tools will be presented in order to help clinicians to get acquainted with basic methodological information related to the subject at issue. Then, as far as type 1 diabetes is concerned, available data indicate that genetic information and counseling may be useful only in families with many affected individuals. However, since no disease prevention is possible, the utility of predicting this form of diabetes is at question. In the case of type 2 diabetes, available data really question the utility of adding genetic information on top of well performing, easy available and inexpensive non-genetic markers. Finally, the possibility of using the few available genetic data on diabetic complications for improving our ability to predict them will also be presented and discussed. For cardiovascular complication, the addition of genetic information to models based on clinical features does not translate in a substantial improvement in risk discrimination. For all other diabetic complications genetic information are currently very poor and cannot, therefore, be used for improving risk stratification.

CONCLUSIONS

In all, nowadays the use of genetic testing for predicting diabetes and its chronic complications is definitively of little value in clinical practice.

Childhood acute basilar artery thrombosis successfully treated with mechanical thrombectomy using stent retrievers: case report and review of the literature

INTRODUCTION

Acute basilar artery occlusion (ABAO) is an infrequent but potentially fatal cause of strokes in both adults and children, and it is usually due to vertebral artery dissection (VAD). VAD has been found to be usually a consequence of traumatic vertebral artery injury. ABAO usually presents with symptoms of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) of the posterior circulation or transient ischemic attack (TIA). It may lead to death or long-term disability if not promptly recanalized. Basilar artery recanalization in children can be achieved safely and with excellent clinical outcome using endovascular thrombectomy with the new generation self-expanding and retrievable stents.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION

We report the case of a 23-month old baby that came to the emergency room of our hospital for progressive impairment of consciousness associated with widespread stiffness and plaintive cry, appeared after accidental fall from stroller. An emergency brain CT scan was obtained showing multiple infarction lesions in the brainstem and left cerebellum suggestive of acute stroke in posterior circulation territories. An MR scan with angiography and diffusion-weighted sequences confirmed the multiple infarction lesions and demonstrated poor representation of the flow signal at the V3 segment of the left vertebral artery and absent representation of the flow signal at the distal segment of the basilar artery suggestive of acute thrombotic occlusion. The patient was immediately referred to interventional neuroradiology unit, and digital subtraction angiography showed complete basilar artery occlusion and left vertebral artery dissection at extracranial V2-V3 segment. The patient underwent intra-arterial thrombectomy using stent retrievers and occlusion of the V2-V3 segment of the left vertebral artery. The patient survived and long-term outcome was excellent.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, only nine cases of ABAO in children treated with intra-arterial thrombectomy have been previously reported in the literature. In only three cases, the Solitaire stent was applied. Our case is the first case of basilar artery occlusion treated with Solitaire stent, in a child under 24 months. The reports that are available so far indicate that basilar artery recanalization in children can be achieved safely and with excellent clinical outcome using endovascular thrombectomy with the new generation self-expanding and retrievable stents.