The role of Intestinal-Fatty Acid Binding Proteins and Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1 across the spectrum of dysglycemia

Background and aims: Recent studies underlie the importance of intestinal permeability and chronic inflammation in the pathogenesis of T2DM. Our study compared the concentrations of FABP2 and YKL40 as markers of intestinal permeability and inflammation among normoglycemia, prediabetes and T2DM. Methods: We recruited 122 participants (45 normoglycemic, 26 prediabetes, and 51 T2DM) of whom we measured the fasting serum levels of FABP2 and YKL-40 using ELISA method. Results: The levels of FABP2 were significantly higher in the T2DM group [2.890 (1.880–4.070)] in comparison to both prediabetes [2.025 (1.145–2.343), p = 0.0085] and normoglycemia group [1.72 (1.250–2.645), p = 0.011]. The levels of YKL-40 were also significantly higher in the T2DM group [68.70 (44.61–166.6)] in comparison to both prediabetes [28.85 (20.64–41.53), p < 0.0001] and normoglycemia group [28.64 (19.25–43.87), p < 0.001]. Conclusions: Our study observed that the levels of FABP2 and YKL-40 were highest in the T2DM group supporting the available evidences on the role of intestinal permeability disruption and chronic low-grade inflammation in the pathogenesis of T2DM.