Underlying Pathways for Interferon Risk to Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Nabil      Abdel-Hamid; Taghreed   Al   Jubori; Amaal      Farhan; Mariam      Mahrous; Adel      Gouri; Ezzat      Awad; Johannes      Breuss

Abstract

It has been known that chronic liver treatments interfere with blood glucose metabolism. It was recognized that diabetes mellitus among chronic hepatitis C was greater in other types of chronic liver diseases. Hepatitis C directly promotes insulin resistance through the proteosomal degradation of insulin resistance substrate. It suppressed hepatocyte glucose uptake through down-regulation of surface expression of glucose transporter. Long-term exposure to cytokine over expression seems to be cytotoxic to both beta cells of the pancreas and to hepatocytes. Elevated tumor necrosis factor-a, or its neutralization, increased insulin sensitivity. Interferon-a may also elevate the serum level of interleukin-1 which is cytotoxic to pancreatic islet cells. Both Diabetes mellitus and resistance to interferon-a therapy are abnormally mediated by over-expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 in hepatocytes of chronic hepatitis C patients.

Conclusion: These data suggest that interferon-a therapy should be administered with caution in patients showing any predisposition to Diabetes mellitus. Anti inflammatory therapy is critically recommended as a protector against disease development due to cytokine mediated Diabetes mellitus during hepatitis C therapy, since inflammation seems to be a main candidate to interferon suspected diabetogenesis.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, HCV, inflammatory mediators, molecular mediators, anti inflammatory.