Effect of inulin intervention on metabolic control and methylation of INS and IRS1 genes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract Background and Aims: Currently, treatments are being sought to improve the control of type II diabetes mellitus(T2DM), and agave inulin has been shown to be effective in reducing glucose levels and other metabolic control parameters. These effects on metabolic control may be associated with changes in the epigenetic modulation of genes of the insulin pathway. For the above mentioned the objective is determine the effect of agave inulin in biochemical parameters and metabolic control and observe the correlation with changes in INSand IRS1 genes methylation in T2DM patients. Methods: This was a longitudinal experimental study with 67 participants from Mexico, who received an intervention of inulin agave (10 g daily) for 2 months. Results: The parameters evaluated included anthropometric measurements, biochemical analyses, and the methylation levels of the INS and IRS1 genes by MSP-PCR. For the INS, it was methylated in 76.1% of participants before treatment, and it was methylated in 52.2% of participants after the intervention. For the IRS1, a hemimethylated status was present in 22.3% and 19.4% of the participants pre- and postintervention, respectively. We observed that there was a positive correlation between the changes in the methylation levels of the INS and IRS1 genes pre-and postintervention with metabolic control. For the INS, we found a negative and statistically significant correlation with abdominal fat. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that intervention with agave inulin correlates with methylation changes of the IRS1 and INS genes and that genes methylation with the metabolic control in T2DM patients.