Multiple biomarkers have performed well in predicting type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk in Western populations. However, evidence is scarce among Asian populations.

Plasma triglyceride-to-high density lipoprotein (TG-to-HDL) ratio, alanine transaminase (ALT), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), ferritin, adiponectin, fetuin-A, and retinol-binding protein 4 were measured in 485 T2DM cases and 485 age-and-sex matched controls nested within the prospective Singapore Chinese Health Study cohort. Participants were free of T2DM at blood collection (1999 to 2004), and T2DM cases were identified at the subsequent follow-up interviews (2006 to 2010). A weighted biomarker score was created based on the strengths of associations between these biomarkers and T2DM risks. The predictive utility of the biomarker score was assessed by the area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC).

The biomarker score that comprised of four biomarkers (TG-to-HDL ratio, ALT, ferritin, and adiponectin) was positively associated with T2DM risk (P trend <0.001). Compared to the lowest quartile of the score, the odds ratio was 12.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.43 to 26.6) for those in the highest quartile. Adding the biomarker score to a base model that included smoking, history of hypertension, body mass index, and levels of random glucose and insulin improved AUC significantly from 0.81 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.83) to 0.83 (95% CI, 0.81 to 0.86; P=0.002). When substituting the random glucose levels with glycosylated hemoglobin in the base model, adding the biomarker score improved AUC from 0.85 (95% CI, 0.83 to 0.88) to 0.86 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.89; P=0.032).

A composite score of blood biomarkers improved T2DM risk prediction among Chinese.

Membrane CD36 is a fatty acid transporter implicated in the pathogenesis of metabolic disease. We aimed to evaluate the association between plasma CD36 levels and diabetes risk and to examine if the association was independent of adiposity among Danish population.

We conducted a case-cohort study nested within the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study among participants free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer and with blood samples and anthropometric measurements (height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat percentage) at baseline (1993 to 1997). CD36 levels were measured in 647 incident diabetes cases that occurred before December 2011 and a total of 3,515 case-cohort participants (236 cases overlap).

Higher plasma CD36 levels were associated with higher diabetes risk after adjusting for age, sex and other lifestyle factors. The hazard ratio (HR) comparing high versus low tertile of plasma CD36 levels was 1.36 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00 to 1.86). However, the association lost its significance after further adjustment for different adiposity indices such as body mass index (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.87 to 1.73), waist circumference (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.68) or body fat percentage (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.66). Moreover, raised plasma CD36 levels were moderately associated with diabetes risk among lean participants, but the association was not present among overweight/obese individuals.

Higher plasma CD36 levels were associated with higher diabetes risk, but the association was not independent of adiposity. In this Danish population, the association of CD36 with diabetes risk could be either mediated or confounded by adiposity.

Fetuin-A is a hepatokine that involved in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. Previous epidemiological studies have found a positive association between blood fetuin-A and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk among Caucasians and African Americans. We aimed to investigate the prospective relationship between fetuin-A and T2DM in an Asian population for the first time.

A nested case-control study was established within a prospective cohort of Chinese living in Singapore. At blood collection (1999 to 2004), all participants were free of diagnosed T2DM and aged 50 to 79 years. At subsequent follow-up (2006 to 2010), 558 people reported to have T2DM and were classified as incident cases, and 558 controls were randomly chosen from the participants who did not develop T2DM to match with cases on age, sex, dialect group, and date of blood collection. Plasma fetuin-A levels were measured retrospectively in cases and controls using samples collected at baseline. Conditional logistic regression models were used to compute the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Restricted cubic spline analysis was used to examine a potential non-linear association between fetuin-A levels and T2DM risk.

Compared with those in the lowest fetuin-A quintile, participants in the highest quintile had a two-fold increased risk of developing T2DM (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.21 to 3.51). A non-linear association was observed (P nonlinearity=0.005), where the association between fetuin-A levels and T2DM risk plateaued at plasma concentrations around 830 µg/mL.

There is a positive association between plasma fetuin-A levels and risk of developing T2DM in this Chinese population.