Saadeldin M.K.Elshaer S.S.Emara I.A.Maged M.Abdel-Aziz A.K.Department of BiochemistryFaculty of Pharmacy (Girls)Al-Azhar UniversityCairoEgypt; Department of BiochemistryNational Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology (NIDE)CairoEgypt; Faculty of BiotechnologyOctober University for Modern Sciences and Arts6th October CityCairoEgypt; Department of Experimental OncologyEuropean Institute of OncologyMilanItaly2020-01-092020-01-09201819326203https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206761PubMed ID 30403705https://t.ly/rx6NnScopusDiabetes mellitus represents a major independent risk factor for developing fatal cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) presumably through accelerating atherosclerosis; the underlying cause of most CVDs. Notably, this relative risk is reported to be higher in women than men. Endeavors directed towards identifying novel reliable predictive biomarkers are immensely thereby urged to improve the long-term outcome in these diabetic female patients. Sclerostin (SOST) is a Wnt signaling antagonist whereas irisin is a muscle-derived factor released after exercising which enhances browning of white adipose tissue. Emerging lines of evidence hint at potential crosstalk between them and CVDs. The present study aimed to assess the serum levels of SOST and irisin in Egyptian type 2 diabetic (T2DM) female patients with and without atherosclerosis and explore the possible relationship between both markers and other studied parameters among the studied cohorts. In this case-control study, 69 female subjects were enrolled; 39 type 2 diabetes patients with atherosclerosis (T2DM+ATHR), 22 type 2 diabetes patients without atherosclerosis (T2DM-ATHR) and 8 healthy controls. Their serum levels of SOST and irisin were assessed using ELISA. Significant increase in SOST levels were found in T2DM+ATHR compared to T2DM-ATHR and control (259.9 �17.98 vs. 165.8�13.12 and 142.0�13.31 pg/mL respectively, P0.001). Conversely, irisin levels were significantly lower in T2DM+ATHR (P0.001) and T2DM-ATHR (P0.01) compared to the control group (32.91�2.545 and 58.55�13.19 vs. 473.6�112.7 pg/ mL). Interestingly, significant correlations between the levels of SOST and both irisin and fasting blood glucose were noticed in T2DM+ATHR group (r = 0.3754 and 0.3381 respectively, P0.05). In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the correlation between SOST and irisin levels in atherosclerotic T2DM female patients implying their potential implication in diabetic cardiovascular pathophysiology and supporting their use as reliable diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers for monitoring and preventing CVDs progression of T2DM female patients. � 2018 Saadeldin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Englishcholesterolglucosehemoglobin A1chigh density lipoprotein cholesterolinsulinirisinlow density lipoprotein cholesteroloral antidiabetic agentsclerostintriacylglycerolbiological markerbone morphogenetic proteinfibronectinFNDC5 protein, humanSOST protein, humanadultage distributionArticleatherosclerosisbody masscardiovascular diseasecardiovascular riskcase control studycholesterol blood levelclinical assessmentcohort analysiscontrolled studydiabetic patientdisease durationdisease exacerbationEgyptianenzyme linked immunosorbent assayfemaleglucose blood levelhemoglobin blood levelhomeostasis model assessmenthumaninsulin blood levelinsulin resistancelipid analysismajor clinical studymolecular interactionnon insulin dependent diabetes mellituspredictive valuesystolic blood pressuretriacylglycerol blood levelatherosclerosisbloodcomplicationEgyptgenetic markermiddle agednon insulin dependent diabetes mellitusobesityprognosisreceiver operating characteristicAdultAtherosclerosisBiomarkersBone Morphogenetic ProteinsCase-Control StudiesCohort StudiesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2EgyptFemaleFibronectinsGenetic MarkersHumansMiddle AgedObesityPrognosisROC CurveArticlehttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206761PubMed ID 30403705