Measurement of Plasma Glucagon Levels Using Mass Spectrometry in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes on Maintenance Hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Recently, attention has been focused on the effect of glucagon on blood glucose variability. The dynamics of glucagon have attracted attention as a new target in the treatment of diabetes patients. However, the dynamics of glucagon in hemodialysis (HD) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remain unclear. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the dynamics of glucagon in HD patients with T2DM. MATERIALS AND METHODS We measured plasma glucagon in HD patients with T2DM by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and radioimmunoassay (RIA). The glucagon levels measured by each method were compared. We used the glucagon levels determined by our developed LC-HRMS method as the standard in this study. RESULTS Plasma glucagon levels measured by LC-HRMS before HD were significantly higher than those measured after HD. Plasma glucagon levels measured using sandwich ELISA had a significantly higher correlation with those measured using LC-HRMS compared with RIA. CONCLUSIONS This was the first study to assess glucagon levels in HD patients with T2DM using LC-HRMS, which is considered a highly accurate method. Sandwich ELISA was shown to measure glucagon levels accurately as well.