The College of Pharmacy discussed the MSc thesis entitled “The Impact of Osteopontin and Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 on Vascular Calcification Development in Type 2 Diabetes Patients” by the student Mohammed Shakir Mohammed and the supervisor, Professor Dr. Shatha Hussein Ali, at the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Department. The study aimed to demonstrate the role of diabetes in vascular calcification by investigating the levels of Osteopontin and Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (FGF-23) in patients with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes. The study included 86 participants and adopted a case-control study design, including 45 patients newly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and 41 healthy individuals as a control group, biochemical assessments were conducted to measure Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c), alongside serum levels of Osteopontin (OPN) and Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (FGF-23), Carotid Artery Calcification (CAC) was evaluated using appropriate imaging techniques, statistical analyses were performed to compare results between the two groups and to investigate the correlations between biochemical markers and vascular calcification.
The results showed that patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) exhibited significantly higher serum levels of Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (FGF-23), alongside a marked decrease in Osteopontin (OPN) levels compared to the control group. A negative correlation was observed between Osteopontin levels and both Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and HbA1c in both groups. Furthermore, elevated levels of FGF-23 were noted in patients with carotid artery calcification; however, Osteopontin levels showed no direct correlation with these calcifications, despite preserving renal function. Collectively, these findings suggest that elevated levels of Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (FGF-23) may contribute to the development of vascular calcification in the early stages of Type 2 Diabetes, Conversely, decreased levels of Osteopontin appear to reflect glycemic disturbances rather than acting as a direct factor in increasing calcification risk, these findings highlight the potential role of disordered mineral metabolism in diabetes-related vascular complications.
The study recommended increasing the sample size to enhance the reliability of the results and improve statistical power. Also, it suggests expanding the patient selection criteria to include both obese and non-obese individuals across various BMI categories to better understand the impact of body mass on biomarkers. Furthermore, the study advises broadening the scope of biological indicators by incorporating markers such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), Creatine Kinase-MB (CK-MB), and cardiac Troponin, alongside Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (FGF-23) and Osteopontin, this aims to achieve a deeper understanding of cardiovascular mechanisms and to improve the accuracy of risk prediction models for patients with Type 2 Diabetes.
