The defense takes place

Friday, March 15th, 2024. Time: 13:00 am
At Aalborg University Hospital
Place: in the auditorium, Medicinerhuset

After the defense there will be held a reception. All are welcome.

 

Supervisor:

• Professor Christina Brock, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark

• Associate professor Joachim Størling, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Denmark

• Professor Asbjørn Mohr Drewes, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark

 

Assessment Committee

• Clinical associate professor Stine Linding Andersen (chair), Aalborg University, Denmark

• Professor Christian Herder, German Diabetes Center, Germany

• Senior researcher Helga Ellingsgaard, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark

 

About the PhD thesis

Although diabetic treatment options and their efficacy have improved, the persistence of long-term macro- and microvascular complications remains a significant obstacle to achieving optimal patient care. Though not fully un-derstood, low-grade inflammation in diabetes is believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of several diabetic complications. This PhD aimed to char-acterize and investigate circulating inflammatory biomarkers in diabetes and diabetic complications.

In paper 1, correlations between several inflammatory biomarkers in type 2 diabetes and various clinical characteristics were presented, thus underlin-ing the need for addressing the inflammatory status in the management of type 2 diabetes.

Paper 2 focused on the possible connections between inflammatory bi-omarkers and the presence of distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSPN) in type 1 diabetes. Associations between increased levels of inflammatory bi-omarkers and the presence and severity of DSPN were found.

Paper 3 explored associations between inflammation and gastrointestinal dysfunction in diabetes. Elevated levels of specific inflammatory biomarkers and increased transit time of the stomach and colon were found, while an in-verse relationship with gastrointestinal symptoms was seen.

In paper 4, transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) was explored as a strategy for lowering the inflammatory status in diabetes. However, no such effect was seen after both short-term and long-term treatment.

In conclusion, the results from this PhD thesis support an association be-tween circulating inflammatory factors and diabetic complications in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes but failed to show an anti-inflammatory effect of tVNS in diabetes. Going forward, assessment of the inflammatory status and possible application of anti-inflammatory treatment in the management of diabetes should be explored as strategies for preventing the development of long-term complications and improving patient outcomes.

 

Contact information

You can contact Tina Okdahl if you have any questions about the defense by clicking here on her e-mail.

Tina Okdahl
E-mail: t.okdahl@rn.dk
Aalborg University Hospital
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
9000 Aalborg