Fasting apolipoprotein B48 is associated with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease in type 2 diabetic subjects: a case-control study

Abstract

Objective: To test whether there is an association between fasting ApoB48 level, a marker of the residual presence of intestinally derived TRLs lipoproteins, thought to be highly atherogenic, and peripheral artery disease (PAD) in type 2 diabetic patients independent of fasting plasma lipids.

Methods: We studied 87 patients with type 2 diabetes: 34 with asymptomatic PAD (ankle/brachial index < 0.9) and 53 without PAD matched on age (±2 years), gender and BMI (±2 kg/m(2)). The plasma fasting ApoB48 was measured by ELISA.

Results: Patients with PAD had significantly higher ApoB48 levels (1.529 ± 1.253 vs 1.095 ± 0.667 μg/ml p = 0.04) than those without PAD independent of major confounders, such as duration of diabetes, smoking status, HbA1c, systolic blood pressure and fasting plasma lipids.

Conclusions: Fasting ApoB48 was independently associated with asymptomatic PAD in patients with type 2 diabetes.