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Abstract
Objectives Serum and urinary C-peptide has clinical implications in people with/without diabetes. Recently, C-peptide was detected in hair samples of healthy adults but not studied in people with diabetes. It is not known whether C-peptide can be detectable in nail tissue or not. This study aims to assess the detection of C-peptide in hair and nail samples and to find whether hair and nail C-peptide levels are different in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) compared with healthy individuals.
Research design and methods In a prospective case-control study on 41 subjects with T1DM and 42 control subjects, hair and nail samples were collected and prepared. C-peptide was extracted by incubating the samples with methanol and measuring the extract with an immunoassay. The hair and nail C-peptide values were compared between the T1DM and control group and their correlations with each other and with other variables were assessed with a significant level set at 0.05.
Results Hair and nail C-peptide levels were detected in both groups, with significantly lower values in T1DM compared with the control group. T1DM with >7-year diabetes duration had significantly lower C-peptide in serum, nails and hair. Hair and nail C-peptide levels have significant positive correlations with each other and negative correlations with age.
Conclusions We conclude that C-peptide are detectable in the hair and nails of healthy persons and persons with T1DM. Compared with the healthy persons, persons with T1DM had significantly lower hair and nail C-peptide and significant hair/nail C-peptide reduction after 7 years of diagnosis. Our results suggest that hair and nails are suitable matrices for the measurement of C-peptide in healthy persons and persons with T1DM.
- C-peptide
- hair sample
- nail sample
- type 1 diabetes mellitus
- control
- human
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Footnotes
Contributors JMS and DSA both contributed to the concept and design of the study, and both participated in the data acquisition. DSA performed the data analysis. JMS drafted the manuscript. Both authors interpreted the results, and reviewed the final manuscript before submission. DSA is the guarantor of this work and, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval The study was approved by the College of Medicine-Ethical Committee at the University of Sulaimani located in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq at July 2019, with the Committee meeting number 44. All participants signed the written informed consent before participation in the study.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available on reasonable request. The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author (DSA, email: darya.abdulateef@univsul.edu.iq) on reasonable request.