Abstract
Adolescence represents a pivotal period for the development of early diabetes-related vascular complications, primarily driven by chronic hyperglycemia and associated metabolic disturbances. Metabolomics provides a promising tool to identify biomarkers reflecting these early changes. The present study compared metabolomic profiles between adolescents with and without type 1 diabetes and assessed the impact of glycemia and short-term treatment with statins and/or ACE inhibitors on metabolite trajectories. Metabolomic data were obtained via the Nightingale platform from 341 adolescents with type 1 diabetes from the AdDIT study and 81 age- and sex-matched peers without diabetes. Two hundred and forty-nine metabolites, with 45 prioritized due to well-established links with cardiovascular disease- including lipid subfractions, amino acids, ketone bodies, and markers of renal function and inflammation—were measured at a mean age of 14.0 ± 1.8 years and re-assessed after 3.5 years in those with diabetes. At baseline, significant differences were observed in glucose, ketone bodies, amino acids, and lipid classes. Over time, adolescents with diabetes showed increases in lipid subfractions, acetoacetate, and GlycA, with HbA1c positively associated with atherogenic lipidome components. Findings from the trial arm provided strong evidence that statins attenuated rises in LDL-cholesterol (1.90 [1.79, 2.01] vs. 2.38 [2.28, 2.49] mmol/l), and weaker evidence suggestive of a small effect of ACE inhibitors in preserving HDL-cholesterol (1.50 [1.45, 1.54] vs. 1.39 [1.34, 1.43] mmol/l). These findings suggest widespread glycemia-related metabolomic perturbations in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, partially mitigated by statins and ACE inhibitors, supporting their cardioprotective role.
Clinical registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT01581476 (13/04/2012) https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01581476.
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Abbreviations
- ACE:
-
Angiotensin converting enzyme
- AdDIT:
-
Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes cardio-renal Intervention tTrial
- ACR:
-
Albumin-to-creatinine ratio
- AA:
-
Amino acid
- ApoA1:
-
Apolipoprotein A1
- ApoB:
-
Apolipoprotein B
- BHB:
-
β-hydroxybutyrate
- CI:
-
Confidence Interval
- DHA:
-
Docosahexaenoic acid
- FDR:
-
False discovery rate
- FA:
-
Fatty acid
- FFA:
-
Free fatty acid
- HbA1c:
-
Glycated hemoglobin
- GlycA:
-
Glycoprotein acetyls
- HDL:
-
High density lipoprotein
- hsCRP:
-
High sensitivity C-reactive protein
- KB:
-
Ketone bodies
- LA:
-
Lactic acid
- log:
-
logarithm
- LDL:
-
Low density lipoprotein
- MUFA:
-
Monounsaturated fatty acid
- PUFA:
-
Polyunsaturated fatty acid
- RCT:
-
Randomized controlled trial
- SCFA:
-
Short chain fatty acid
- SFA:
-
Saturated fatty acid
- VLDL:
-
Very low density lipoprotein
Acknowledgements
We thank all participants for their involvement and commitment. We thank the Adolescent type 1 Diabetes cardio-renal Intervention Trial (AdDIT) Study group. We would also like to recognize and acknowledge the invaluable contributions and leadership of the late Professor David Dunger as part of the AdDIT study.
Funding
The AdDIT study was funded by Diabetes UK, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and in Canada the JDRF- Canadian Clinical Trial Network (CCTN), the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canada. Metabolomic profiling was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre (BRC800/CM/SC/101320). We also acknowledge support from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit and the UK NIHR Clinical Research Network.
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Prampolini, B., Giton, A., Frassineti, S. et al. Effect of statins and ACE inhibitors on the metabolome in the Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes cardio-renal Intervention Trial (AdDIT) cohort. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50044-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50044-w
