A new study by Swedish scientists has revealed a blood marker that indicates that its carrier is at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, and it is detected many years before the disease is diagnosed.
Team Leader Anders Rosengren, a researcher at Lund University, said in a press statement: “We found that people who have higher than average SFRP4 blood levels are five times more likely to develop diabetes in the next few years than those with whom this level is below average. "
Rosengren and colleagues compared the insulin-producing beta cells of patients with diabetes with non-diabetic cells and found that diabetic cells had significantly higher levels of SFRP4 protein, which contributes to the development of inflammatory processes. Chronic inflammation in turn weakens beta cells, so that they are no longer able to produce enough insulin.
They measured non-diabetic blood SFRP4 levels three times every three years. It was found that during the study, diabetes developed in 37% of participants with a higher protein concentration, and only 9% of those whose protein levels were below average. Scientists have called this protein a strong "risk marker."
Scientists believe that in the long run, their findings may lead to the development of new treatments for type 2 diabetes, possibly by developing methods to block the SFRP4 protein in insulin-producing beta cells and reduce inflammation, thereby protecting the cells.
