Serum FTO Protein Levels in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients in Syria: A Case‒Control Study

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is often accompanied by obesity, particularly visceral obesity. On the other hand, The FTO protein is associated with body mass index (BMI). It acts as an enzyme that induces epigenetic modifications in multiple genes. suggesting that the FTO protein is associated with several metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes. Our study aimed to evaluate the protein levels of FTO in Syrian patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This case‒control study involved 80 participants selected from the National University Hospital in Damascus.it divided into two primary groups: 44 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients and 36 nondiabetic participants, including 22 obese participants and 14 normal weight participants. Serum levels of FTO protein were measured by Sandwich Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA), fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting insulin (FINS) and insulin resistance were assessed for each participant. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistics (version 27) software. The Mann‒Whitney test, the independent t test, ANOVA and the Kruskal‒Wallis test were used. Correlations were assessed via Pearson’s test and via Spearman’s test for the subgroups. A p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant Results: The serum levels of FTO protein did not differ between type 2 diabetes and nondiabetic participants(p > 0.05), but they differ between the obese-nondiabetic group and the normal weight- nondiabetic group(p < 0.05). Serum FTO levels were correlated with insulin(p = 0.001) and insulin resistance(p = 0.001) in the nondiabetic group, but were not correlated with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes(p > 0.05). Discussion: Serum levels of FTO appear to be more strongly associated with obesity than with diabetes.