Startseite Medizin Serum N-glycans as independent predictors of the incidence of type 2 diabetes: a prospective investigation in the AEGIS cohort
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Serum N-glycans as independent predictors of the incidence of type 2 diabetes: a prospective investigation in the AEGIS cohort

  • Iago Carballo ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Óscar Lado-Baleato ORCID logo , Róisín O’Flaherty ORCID logo , Manuela Alonso-Sampedro ORCID logo , Manuel M. Vicente ORCID logo , Salomé S. Pinho ORCID logo , Radka Saldova ORCID logo , Francisco Gude ORCID logo und Arturo González-Quintela ORCID logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 24. Juni 2025

Abstract

Objectives

Glycosylation is a tightly controlled co-translational and post-translational enzymatic modification. Total N-glycome profiling in blood serum/plasma provides information on the most common serum/plasma glycosylation. Total plasma N-glycome from various population samples displayed predictive ability for type 2 diabetes incidence in two previous studies; we therefore explored the ability of total serum N-glycome to predict this disease in a general adult population.

Methods

This prospective cohort study included a random sample of 1516 adults from a single Spanish municipality. Participants’ glycemic status (non-diabetes, type 2 diabetes) was evaluated at baseline and at a mean follow-up of 7.4 years. Total serum N-glycome at baseline was also measured. Serum enzymatic N-glycan release was performed on a robotic platform followed by HILIC-UPLC glycan separation. Total serum N-glycans were quantified and employed alone, as well as in combination with classical risk factors, to construct type 2 diabetes prediction models.

Results

Total serum N-glycome peak 37, mainly composed of A3F1G3S3, predisposed participants to type 2 diabetes; however, total serum N-glycome peak 24, mainly composed of A2G2S2, was protective against type 2 diabetes. The interaction between total serum N-glycome peaks 37 and 24 predicted the incidence of type 2 diabetes over time (area under the curve 0.801 [0.750–0.853]). Their predictive power had an independent and additive effect on classical prediction factors.

Conclusions

The interaction between total serum N-glycome peaks 37 and 24 may constitute a promising predictive biomarker for type 2 diabetes improving the classical prediction tools.


Corresponding author: Iago Carballo, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS), Rúa da Choupana s/n, 15706, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Research Methods Group (RESMET), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, E-mail:
Iago Carballo and Óscar Lado-Baleato share first authorship.

Funding source: European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)

Award Identifier / Grant number: JR21/00007

Award Identifier / Grant number: PI13/2594

Award Identifier / Grant number: PI16/01395

Award Identifier / Grant number: PI16/01404

Award Identifier / Grant number: PT23/00118

Award Identifier / Grant number: RD21/0016/0022

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Carmen Fernández Merino, A Estrada Primary Care Center, A Estrada, Spain, PhD, MD; Luis Meijide Calvo, A Estrada Primary Care Center, A Estrada, Spain, MD; Jesús Rey García, A Estrada Primary Care Center, A Estrada, Spain, MD; Sonia Sánchez Batán, A Estrada Primary Care Center, A Estrada, Spain, MD; Juan Sánchez Castro, A Estrada Primary Care Center, A Estrada, Spain, MD; Vanesa Alende Castro, University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, PhD, MD; and Cristina Macía Rodríguez, University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, PhD, MD; for their contribution to individual recruitment and data collection. The authors would also like to thank Márcia S. Pereira, Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, PhD, for her contribution in analyzing the data. None of them received financial support for their participation.

  1. Research ethics: The general survey and the specific glycomic studies were approved by the Galician Regional Ethics Committee (codes 2010-315 and 2016-464, respectively) and conformed to the current Helsinki Declaration.

  2. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.

  3. Author contributions: Iago Carballo: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft. Óscar Lado-Baleato: Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft. Róisín O’Flaherty: Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Manuela Alonso-Sampedro: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Manuel M. Vicente: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. Salomé S. Pinho: Methodology, Writing – review & editing. Radka Saldova: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Francisco Gude: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. Arturo González-Quintela: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: Iago Carballo, Óscar Lado-Baleato, Francisco Gude, and Arturo González-Quintela have applied for a patent related to the results described in this work: a method for predicting the risk of type 2 diabetes.

  6. Research funding: This study was supported by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (PI16/01404, PI13/2594, PI16/01395, RD21/0016/0022, PT23/00118), the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), and Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero. IC was granted a Juan Rodés contract (JR21/00007), funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and co-funded by the European Union. The study funders were not involved in the design of the study; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and did not impose any restrictions regarding the publication of the report.

  7. Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to Spanish law restrictions.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2025-0045).


Received: 2025-01-14
Accepted: 2025-06-10
Published Online: 2025-06-24
Published in Print: 2025-10-27

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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