BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) is an important cytokine in the regulation of bone remodeling. Whether it can be used as a sensitive marker to bone turnover is incompletely understood. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of TGF-β1 with bone formation and resorption markers, and bone mineral density (BMD) at the anteroposterior lumbar spine. METHODS: Totally 663 healthy women from Changsha were analyzed, aged 20-80 years. Levels of TGF-β1, serum bone alkaline phosphatase (sBAP) and serum C-terminal cross-linked telopeptides (sCTx) were measured by ELISA, at the same time, the BMD of anteroposterior lumbar spine was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. The associations between TGF-β1 and other indexes were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The TGF-β1 levels reached a peak in the 30-39 and 40-49 years groups, which had a negative correlation with age, but no correlation with body mass index (BMI). After corrected for BMI, TGF-β1 was negatively correlated to sBAP and sCTx, but was positively correlated with BMD of spine after correction of BMI or age. TGF-β1 can act as a sensitive cytokine to reflect the changes of bone turnover.

Objective:To investigate the association of body weight and body mass index (BMI) with bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporotic risk in elderly men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods:210 elderly male patients with T2DM admitted to the Department of Endocrinology of the First Hospital of Changsha from June 2017 to May 2018 were selected as the research objects. The height, weight and bone mass index (BMI) were measured. BMDs of the left hip [including femoral neck (FN), greater trochanter (G.T.), intertrochanter (InTro), and total hip (TH)] and lumbar spine (LS) were measured in 210 elderly male patients with T2DM by dual-energy X-ray absorption method. Patients were divided into three groups according to BMI: the overweight group (24.0 kg/m 2≤BMI<28.0 kg/m 2), the obesity (BMI≥28.0 kg/m 2) group, and the normal group (18.5 kg/m 2≤BMI<24.0 kg/m 2). The influence of body weight and BMI on BMD and osteoporotic risk in these elderly men with T2DM was analyzed. Results:The BMDs in various sites of the hip of the overweight group and obesity group were higher compared with those in the normal weight group ( P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between weight and BMI with BMDs in various sites of the hip femoral neck (including FN, G. T., InTro, and TH) ( r=0.239-0.427, P<0.05). All patients were divided into different tertiles (T1-T3) stratified by weight and BMI respectively. The BMDs in various sites of the hip increased with tertiles stratified by weight ( P<0.05). The TH-BMD also increased with tertiles stratified by BMI ( P<0.05). The odd ratios ( OR) were calculated using T3 as the control group and T1 as the case group, using T2 as the control group and T1 as the case group, respectively. The osteoporotic risks of T1/T3, T1/T2 at FN stratified by weight were significantly increased by 4.50 times ( OR=4.50, 95% CI: 1.41-14.35) and 9.27 times ( OR=9.27, 95% CI: 2.03-42.30); The osteoporotic risks of T1/T3, T1/T2 at TH were significantly increased by 3.25 times ( OR=3.25, 95% CI: 1.10-9.59) and 8.50 times ( OR=8.50, 95% CI: 1.85-38.99). The osteoporotic risks of T1/T3, T1/T2 at FN stratified by BMI respectively were significantly increased by 4.13 times ( OR=4.13, 95% CI: 1.28-13.25) and 5.58 times ( OR=5.58, 95% CI: 1.53-20.42); while the osteoporotic risks of T1/T3, T1/T2 at TH stratified by BMI were not significantly increased ( P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in BMDs and the osteoporotic risks of the LS among T1, T2, and T3, regardless of stratified by weight or BMI ( P>0.05). Conclusions:For elderly males with T2DM, weight and BMI are important factors affecting BMDs in the hip, and also affecting the osteoporotic risks of the hip, especially that of FN. Osteoporotic risks of the FN decrease with the increase of weight and BMI within a certain range.