Introduction: Severe hypoglycemia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) death, and platelet responses to hypoglycemia (hypo) have been described. The impact of a transient severe hypo versus prolonged less severe hypo is unclear.
Methods: 2 hypo studies were compared; firstly, in 18 subjects (type 2 diabetes (T2D) : 8 controls) blood glucose lowered to 3.5mmoL/L (90mg/dL) for 1-hour; secondly, in 46 subjects (23 T2D: 23 controls) blood glucose lowered to <2.2mmoL/L (<40mg/dL) transiently. The platelet-related protein (PRP) responses from baseline to after 1-hour of hypo (study-1) or at severe transient hypo (study-2) were compared, and at 24-hours post-hypo. Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamer (SOMA) -scan plasma protein measurement was used to determine platelet-related protein changes for 13 proteins.
Results: In T2D, from baseline to hypo, differences were seen for 4 PRPs, three showing increased percent change in study-2 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) , platelet glycoprotein VI (PGVI) and Tissue factor) , one showing increased percent change in study-1 (CD40 ligand (CD40LG)) ; at 24-hours in T2D, percent change for CD40LG remained increased, together with von Willebrand factor (vWF) , in study-2. In controls, from baseline to hypo, differences were seen for four PRPs, three showing increased percent change in study-2 (PAI-1, CD40LG and Protein S) , one showing increased percent change in study-1 (vWF) ; at 24-hours in controls, percent change for Protein S remained increased in study-2, whilst percent change for vWF and plasminogen were increased in study-1.
Conclusion: Thrombogenic potential was enhanced in T2D versus controls, as evidenced by an increased thrombogenic protein expression profile in both mild and severe hypoglycemia, that showed persistent changes at 24-hours in severe hypo.
A. Moin: None. H. Kahal: None.
