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Horm Metab Res 2005; 37(4): 257-263
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-861209
Original Clinical
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Association of Humoral Immunity to Human Hsp60 with the IL-6 Gene Polymorphism C-174G in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Controls

A.  Mostafazadeh* 1, 2 , C.  Herder* 1 , B.  Haastert3 , P.  Hanifi-Moghaddam1 , N.  Schloot1 , W.  Koenig4 , T.  Illig5 , B.  Thorand5 , R.  Holle6 , M.-B.  Eslami7 , H.  Kolb1 , for the KORA Group**
  • 1 German Diabetes Clinic, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Institute at the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
  • 3 Institute of Biometrics and Epidemiology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Institute at the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 4 Department Internal Medicine II-Cardiology, University of Ulm, Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
  • 5 GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Neuherberg, Germany
  • 6 GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, Neuherberg, Germany
  • 7 Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • 8* These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • 9** The KORA Group consists of H.E. Wichmann (speaker), H. Löwel, C. Meisinger, T. Illig, R. Holle, J. John and their co-workers who are responsible for the design and conduct of the KORA studies.
Further Information

Publication History

Received 28 June 2004

Accepted after revision 4 October 2004

Publication Date:
13 June 2005 (online)

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Abstract

The relationship between humoral immunity to hsp60 and type 2 diabetes along with other relevant metabolic, inflammatory and immunogenetic variables was studied in 76 non-diabetic and 74 diabetic persons aged 55 - 74 years selected from the population-based KORA Survey 2000. Antibodies to human hsp60 were measured in serum samples by ELISA. Hsp60 antibodies were detected in all but two individuals in a considerable range of titres (22 - 1,856 AU/ml). There was no significant association to age and sex, or to key clinical or metabolic parameters (BMI, WHR, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, albumin, uric acid) or immunological parameters (CRP, IL-6, sIL-6R, TNFα, sTNFαR60, sTNFαR80). Analysis of antibody-positive individuals revealed an association between hsp60 antibodies and diabetes at borderline significance (p = 0.047), which was lost when the two antibody-negative individuals were included. Genetic analyses indicated that this association was significant in carriers of the C allele of the IL-6 promoter region polymorphism at nucleotide -174 (p = 0.02), but not in GG genotype carriers. We conclude that humoral immunity to human hsp60 may be enhanced in those diabetic patients carrying the -174C allele of the IL-6 gene. This finding may contribute to an understanding of the relationship between the -174C allele and increased risk of atherosclerosis.

Key words

Heat shock protein 60 - Antibodies - Inflammation - Diabetes

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Hubert Kolb, PhD

German Diabetes Clinic, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Institute at the Heinrich Heine University

Auf"m Hennekamp 65 · 40225 Düsseldorf · Germany ·

Phone: +49 (211) 3382-643

Fax: +49 (211) 3382-360

Email: kolb@ddfi.uni-duesseldorf.de

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