Maternal serum xenin-25 potential candidate for diagnosis of gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes mellitus is a condition where women develop varying degrees of carbohydrate intolerance during pregnancy or are diagnosed during pregnancy for the first time.

Xenin-25 is a polypeptide that exerts an insulinotropic effect via promoting beta cell survival and proliferation and increases the insulin-releasing action of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). G.N. Kucukbas, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perinatology Division, Kocaeli City Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey, and colleagues aimed to assess serum xenin-25 levels in euglycemic pregnancies versus pregnancies complicated with gestational diabetes mellitus.

The study included forty pregnancies complicated with gestational diabetes and 40 healthy pregnancies with gestational age between 24 and 28 weeks. Blood samples were drawn from the participants following eight hours of fasting, and subsequent oral administration of 75 g of glucose. Blood was drawn again after 120 minutes after the glucose challenge. Detection of serum xenin-25 levels was done by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed.

The study led to the following findings:

• There was no significant difference in gestational age, maternal age, BMI, fasting glucose, and insulin levels between the groups.
• Both fasting and 120th-minute xenin-25 levels were significantly higher in the GDM group when compared to the control group.
• Both the fasting and 120th-minute serum xenin-25 levels were significantly higher in women with GDM compared to healthy pregnant women.

The findings showed that fasting and 120th-minute serum xenin-25 levels were revealed to be significantly higher in pregnant women with GDM compared to healthy pregnant women; implying serum xenin-25 level be a candidate for GDM diagnosis.

According to the research team, the function and potential of this ancestral protein need to be studied as a glucose metabolism, and whether it is diagnostically strong enough to predict GDM.

"To provide this information, there is a need to conduct future studies in larger populations to better understand the relationship between GDM and xenin-25," the researchers concluded.

The limitation of the study was that only fasting insulin was measured. The researchers suggest conducting future research to investigate the measurement of both GIP and insulin during fasting and at the 60th minute and 120th minute of OGTT.

"According to the study protocol, BMI calculation was done only at the time of measurement, however, in subsequent studies, weight gain during pregnancy could also be considered," the researchers wrote. In addition, xenin-25 levels were measured at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy, and a better assessment could be made by periodic measurement of the xenin-25 level at certain weeks from the beginning of pregnancy to the OGTT process.

Reference:

G.N. Kucukbas, A.U. Komuroglu, D. Dirik, B. Korpe, C. Kose, O. Karaaslan, Y. Dirik, H.G. Sahin

Maternal serum xenin-25 levels in gestational diabetes mellitus