The role of small, dense lipoproteins in type-2 diabetes and maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY): What's new

Abstract

Although diabetic dyslipidemia is a well-known and extensively studied phenomenon, its features continue to attract significant attention from both researchers and clinicians. Given that lipid profile abnormalities are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease,1,2 considerable efforts have been devoted to elucidating the underlying mechanisms through which these pathophysiological alterations contribute to elevated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes. Moreover, specific components of diabetic dyslipidemia are being studied for their potential as diagnostic or therapeutic tools. Atherogenic dyslipidemia, also commonly referred to as metabolic or diabetic dyslipidemia, is a distinct pattern of serum lipid abnormalities characterized by elevated triglycerides (TG), reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLsingle bondC), and a higher prevalence of small, dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) particles.3 Such a specific setting of lipid profile changes is regularly seen in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM),4 thus laboratory evaluation of these patients typically includes the assessment of lipid biomarkers. However, while determining serum TG and HDL-C levels is straightforward and routinely performed in clinical laboratories, assessing sdLDL particles has not yet become a part of everyday clinical and laboratory practice. Consequently, diabetic dyslipidemia is typically evaluated using routine lipid parameters,5 whereas the measurement of sdLDL largely remains within the domain of scientific research.