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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Study of In Vivo Glucose Metabolism in High-fat Diet-fed Mice Using Oral Glucose Tolerance Test OGTT and Insulin Tolerance Test ITT
Published on: January 7, 2018
An epigenomic signature of postprandial hyperglycemia in peripheral blood leukocytes
Sung-Mi Shim1, Yoon-Kyung Cho2, Eun-Jung Hong2
1Division of Brain Diseases, Center for Biomedical Sciences, Osong, Korea.
Abstract:
Postprandial hyperglycemia is known to be one of the earliest signs of abnormal glucose homeostasis associated with type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to assess clinical significance of a 1-h postprandial glucose level for the development of diabetes, and identify epigenetic biomarkers of postprandial hyperglycemia. We analyzed clinical data from the oral glucose tolerance tests for healthy subjects (n=4502). The ratio (Glu60/Glu0) of 1-h glucose levels to fasting glucose levels was significantly associated with an insulin sensitive index (QUICKI, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index) (β=0.055, P=1.25E-04) as well as a risk of future pre-diabetic and diabetic conversion. Next, DNA methylation profile analyses of 24 matched pairs of the high and low Glu60/Glu0 ratio subjects showed that specific DNA methylation levels in the promoter region of an olfactory receptor gene (olfactory receptor gene family10 member A4, OR10A4) were associated with the Glu60/Glu0 ratios (β=0.337, P=0.03). Moreover, acute oral glucose challenges decreased the DNA methylation levels of OR10A4 but not the global DNA methylation in peripheral leukocytes of healthy subjects (n=7), indicating that OR10A4 is a specific epigenomic target of postprandial hyperglycemia. This work suggests possible relevance of olfactory receptor genes to an earlier molecular biomarker of peripheral hyperglycemia and diabetic conversion.
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