Anne Gedeberg - Mannan-binding lectin and risk of complications in patient with T2D

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) complications currently put a tremendous burden on health care systems. In order to improve survival and care of patients with T2D and hinder chronic complications, we must improve our understanding of the pathways and predictors of these complications. Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is a multifunctional protein involved in innate immunity that may have a dual role in affecting both susceptibility of infections and micro- and macrovascular complications in T2D.

We aim to investigate the link between MBL and risk of macro- and microvascular, and infectious complications in T2D, and to study its interaction of these associations with CRP level, blood glucose, and use of immune-modulatory diabetes medications.

We will take advantage of the unique Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes (DD2) cohort and biobank, and nationwide hospital and prescription databases. We will measure MBL and CRP in ~ 6,500 patients with newly diagnosed T2D in the DD2, and follow them for development of MI, stroke, nephropathy, antibiotic use, infections, and all-cause mortality in medical registries.

The proposed studies may clarify whether MBL is a crucial link in the development of macro- and microvascular complications and infections in T2D.