Letter to the Editor Re: Sera of Obese Type 2 Diabetic Patients Undergoing Metabolic Surgery Instead of Conventional Treatment Exert Beneficial Effects on Beta Cell Survival and Function: Results of a Randomized Clinical Study

Excerpt

We congratulate Alina Constantin and her colleagues [1] for their major contribution documenting that cultures of beta cells are adversely affected by serum from obese subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and that these harmful effects are reduced when the cells are exposed to serum from similar, randomized patients who were treated with the laparascopic gastric sleeve operation (LSG). At 6-month follow-up, patients undergoing LSG achieved glycemic control, whereas conventionally treated patients did not. Cells exposed to sera from LSG-treated participants exhibited (1) increased viability and proliferation, (2) diminished levels reactive oxygen species and p53, (3) enhanced protein expression of autophagy-related SIRT1 and p62/SQSTM1, (4) significantly decreased transcript levels of endothelial reticulum (ER) stress markers, and (5) augmented insulin expression. Conversely, the 6-month conventional therapy appeared not to impact on circulating redox status. Moreover, 1.1B4 cells exposed to sera from conventionally treated patients experienced mild ER stress. …