Folate supplementation reduces serum Hsp70 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes patients are subject to oxidative stress as a result of hyperglycemia. The aim of this study was to determine whether administration of the antioxidant folic acid, previously shown to reduce homocysteine levels, would reduce circulating levels of Hsp70 while improving the condition of type 2 diabetes patients with microalbuminuria. Plasma homocysteine fell from pretreatment values of 12.9 to 10.3 microM (P < 0.0001). The urine albumin-creatinine ratio fell from 12.4 to 10.4 mg/mM (P = 0.38). Pretreatment Hsp70 levels were higher in patients not taking insulin (5.32 ng/mL) compared with those on insulin (2.44 ng/mL) (P = 0.012). Folic acid supplementation resulted in a significant fall in Hsp70 (5.32 to 2.05 ng/mL) (P = 0.004). There was no change in Hsp70 in those receiving insulin. Folic acid supplementation in non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetes patients, therefore, resulted in a fall in Hsp70, reflecting an improvement in oxidative stress. The data shows that improvement in homocysteine status can lead to a reduction in Hsp70, indicating the possibility of its use as a marker for severity of disease.

Effect of Folic Acid Supplementation on Homocysteine, Serum Total Antioxidant Capacity, and Malondialdehyde in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…Current research suggests that when cellular Hcy leaks into the circulation, even in slightly elevated amounts, the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and venous thrombosis and embolism increases significantly [20]. Our findings show that folate supplementation decreased the level of Hcy, which is in agreement with results of earlier studies; however, the percentage decrease differs [2,14,[21][22][23][24]. Differences in duration of therapy and dose of folic acid could account for these differences.…”

Increased serum heat-shock protein 70 levels reflect systemic inflammation, oxidative stress and hepatocellular injury in preeclampsia

“…Additionally, oxidative stress has been suggested to be involved in the exercise-induced circulating Hsp72 response and the supplementation with vitamin C and the vitamin E isoform γ-tocopherol completely blunted this response (Fischer et al 2006). Furthermore, the antioxidant folic acid, which reduces oxidative stress in vivo, significantly decreased serum Hsp70 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes (Hunter-Lavin et al 2004b). Not only can Hsp70 be released from intact cells by active mechanisms, but it may also be discharged from damaged, necrotic cells in a passive manner (Basu et al 2000).…”

Increased serum HSP70 levels are associated with the duration of diabetes

“…To date, only a limited number of studies investigated the serum levels of HSP70 in diabetes (Gruden et al 2009;Hunter-Lavin et al 2004;Oglesbee et al 2005). However, these studies did not explore the variation of HSP70 levels with disease progression.…”