Consistency of plasma glucagon levels in patients with type 1 diabetes after a 1-year period.

Recent progress in research on glucagon and α-cells highlights their pathophysiological roles in diabetes. We previously showed that plasma glucagon levels measured by newly developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were dysregulated in patients with type 1 diabetes with respect to plasma glucose levels, suggesting dysregulated secretion. In the current study, the annual change in plasma glucagon levels was assessed in these same patients. We found that the plasma glucagon levels in the 66 Japanese patients involved in the study were significantly correlated between both years. In addition, they were significantly associated with serum blood urea nitrogen levels in a multivariate linear regression analysis, as reported in our previous study. The statistical correlation in glucagon levels between annual checkups and the sustained significant correlation between glucagon and blood urea nitrogen suggest a constant dysregulation of glucagon in association with altered amino acid metabolism in patients with type 1 diabetes.