Discussion
In the current study, we found that serum SerpinB1 levels were almost twofold higher in patients with type 2 diabetes, compared with the levels in control subjects. In addition, SerpinB1 levels had a significant positive association or trend toward a positive association with HbA1c in some multiple regression analysis models although the association was not found in a simple correlation analysis. Furthermore, SerpinB1 levels were negatively associated with circulating insulin levels in one multiple regression analysis model. The detailed reason for this result remains unknown; however, we speculate that the elevation of SerpinB1 levels in the circulation in these patients is likely due to compensatory mechanisms assuming that SerpinB1 can promote pancreatic β cell proliferation.13 In fact, a previous study showed that a significant positive correlation was noted between circulating SerpinB1 levels and insulin resistance in non-diabetic subjects with one or more risk factor for type 2 diabetes,13 suggesting a compensatory elevation. It should be noted that the patients' backgrounds in the previous study differed compared with that in the current study composed of patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. In addition, there is a report showing that serum elastase activity was significantly increased in diabetic men and had a tendency toward an increase in diabetic women compared with that in non-diabetic subjects.22 This may also support our hypothesis that serum SerpinB1 levels increase by compensatory mechanisms in patients with type 2 diabetes since SerpinB1 has neutrophil elastase inhibitory activity. Importantly, SerpinB1 levels were not basically influenced by eGFR in the current study although a mild non-significant tendency of a negative correlation between SerpinB1 and eGFR was observed, suggesting that circulating SerpinB1 levels are probably independent of renal function. On the other hand, SerpinB1 levels might be influenced by age because SerpinB1 levels showed a significant positive association or trend toward a positive association with age in some multiple regression analysis models. The reason for this finding remains unclear.
Interestingly, we found a significant negative correlation between serum SerpinB1 and LDL-C levels. The negative association was also observed in the multiple regression analysis models. Although it is difficult to explain the reason for the result, a previous report revealed that there was a positive (but not negative) significant correlation of serum neutrophil elastase with LDL-C.23 Notably, it is also reported that human plasma LDL can promote the release of elastase from polymorphonuclear cells.24 This may suggest the idea that LDL might inversely inhibit the release of SerpinB1 as an elastase inhibitor, although there is still no evidence for this hypothesis. Therefore, it may be interesting to investigate in future studies whether the possible negative association between SerpinB1 and LDL-C found in the current study is based on direct mechanisms or not.
Of interest, SerpinB1 levels had a tendency toward higher values in patients treated with statins, compared with that in patients not treated with statins. In addition, the association between SerpinB1 and LDL-C levels decreased in patients treated with statins, compared with that in patients not treated with statins. Therefore, although the detailed mechanisms are unknown, statins may influence SerpinB1 levels, probably to different degrees when compared with the effect on LDL-C levels, and may be able to weaken the potential negative association between these parameters. Based on our results, it may be interesting to investigate the effect of statins on serum SerpinB1 levels in prospective studies.
In the current study, we also investigated the effect of canaglifozin, a SGLT2 inhibitor, on SerpinB1 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, because the production of SerpinB1 in the liver is promoted under a state of insulin resistance. Therefore, it is likely that the antidiabetic drugs, such as SGLT2, which can decrease circulating insulin levels,18 ,19 elevate circulating SerpinB1 levels. However, contrary to our expectation, canagliflozin treatment did not influence serum SerpinB1 levels, despite the fact that the plasma glucose and insulin levels were significantly decreased by canagliflozin treatment in this study (data not shown). In the current study, SerpinB1 levels were measured at baseline and after 3 days because the measurement was made using the reserved sera from our recent study as previously described. However, the length of treatment may have been too short to detect the change in SerpinB1 levels. Therefore, we speculate that our negative result may be based, at least in part, on the relatively short term (3 days) of treatment. SerpinB1 promotes pancreatic β cell proliferation13 and it is likely that the inhibition of neutrophil elastase probably improves insulin resistance.12 In this aspect, it may be important to investigate whether SGLT2 inhibitors, which can decrease circulating insulin levels, are able to influence the circulating SerpinB1 levels in longer term observations. Furthermore, it may also be interesting to evaluate the influence of other antidiabetic drugs, such as insulin secretagogues, insulin sensitizers, and the combination with these drugs, on serum SerpinB1 levels in prospective studies because these drugs affect circulating insulin levels. However, there was no significant difference in SerpinB1 levels among the patient groups treated with these drugs in a cross-sectional analysis in the current study; this may be at least partially due to the fact that the difference of sample sizes was large in four diabetic drugs groups and the sample sizes in the no drugs or αGI-only group and insulin secretagogues group were small.
In the current study, the concentration of SerpinB1 in healthy control subjects was lower than that reported in a previous study.13 The exact reason for the difference is unknown; however, the difference of the subjects' background, such as ethnicity and age, and the difference in the measurement methods may have contributed in part to the different findings. In the current study, the number of patients studied was relatively small, which is one limitation of this study.
In conclusion, we found that serum SerpinB1 levels were higher in patients with type 2 diabetes, compared with that in heathy controls. Serum SerpinB1 levels significantly negatively correlated with LDL-C levels. In addition, serum SerpinB1 levels had a significant positive association or a trend toward a positive association with age and HbA1c, and a significant negative association with LDL-C levels in some of the multiple regression analysis models. Canagliflozin (a SGLT2 inhibitor) treatment did not influence serum SerpinB1 levels. An additional study is needed to clarify the clinical significance of the results of this study.