Amylase and lipase levels in the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes: A longitudinal study in rhesus monkeys

Abstract

Latent associations between low serum amylase and reduced plasma insulin levels and increased adiposity have been described previously in a small study of asymptomatic middle‐aged humans. In the present study, we sought to determine the nature of such changes during the longitudinal progression from metabolically normal to overt type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in nonhuman primates (NHPs), a disease that appears to be the same in both pathophysiology and underlying mechanisms as that which most commonly develops in middle‐aged adult humans. Amylase and lipase levels were characterized in 157 unrelated adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta); 38% developed T2DM while under study. In all monkeys, multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that amylase could be negatively predicted by % body fat (β −0.29; p = 0.002), age (β −0.27; p = 0.005), and HbA1c (β −0.18; p = 0.037). Amylase levels were positively predicted by lipase levels (β = 0.19; p = −0.024) in all NHPs included in the study. Amylase was significantly lower in NHPs with metabolic syndrome (p < 0.001), prediabetes (PreDM) (p < 0.001), and T2DM (p < 0.001) compared to metabolically normal adult NHPs. Lipase increased in NHPs with PreDM (p = 0.005) and T2DM (p = 0.04) compared to normal NHPs. This is the first longitudinal study of any species, including humans, to show the dynamics of amylase and lipase during the metabolic progression from normal to metabolic syndrome, to PreDM and then to overt T2DM. The extraordinary similarity between humans and monkeys in T2DM, in pancreatic pathophysiology and in metabolic functions give these findings high translational value.