• Plaque burden in carotid arteries [ Time Frame: Individual ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Serum levels of pattern recognition molecules [ Time Frame: Individual ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Genotyping genes for pattern recognition molecules [ Time Frame: Individual ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

Aim: The primary aims of the project are:

1. By use of advanced magnetic resonance imaging to characterize the prevalence of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.
2. To investigate if individual differences in the innate immune system contributes to the prevalence and development of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.
3. To prospectively observe the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes seen in the light of the obtained baseline characteristics.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a very common disease in the western world. Patients with type 2 diabetes are at risk of a number of complications, including macroangiopathy which involves an accelerated atherosclerosis, that causes most of the increased mortality and morbidity in type 2 diabetics. Mounting evidence suggests that development of vascular complications is associated to a chronic low grad inflammation in type 2 diabetes. Individual differences in the innate immune system might contribute to this chronic low grade inflammation as it has become apparent that in some situations - as after tissue ischemia or in diabetes - a change in the body's own cell glycosylations occurs, which leads to increased affinity of PRM's. This study will focus primarily on two families of PRM's: Collectins and Toll-like receptors.

Methods: The study consists of a prospective observational cohort study of 100 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients with continuous 2-year clinical follow-up and a register-based follow-up of morbidity and mortality study after 5 and 10 years. Furthermore 100 healthy control subjects will be included. Baseline data will represent a independent cross-sectional study of the relationship between the innate immune system, glycemic control and the presence of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients.

100 patients with newly diagnosed (<5 years since diagnosis) type 2 diabetes referred from general practitioners to Medical Department M, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

100 healthy (no diabetes or prediabetes in oral glucose tolerance test) control subjects matched for age and gender.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diabetics: Newly diagnosed (<5 years since diagnoses) type 2 diabetes due to national diagnosis criteria
• Controls: No diabetes or prediabetes in oral glucose tolerance test

Both:

• Age > 18 years
• Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Both:

• Pacemaker or other magnetic materials in the body
• Severe claustrophobia
• Pregnancy/lactation
• Cancer - former or current
• Acute or chronic infection
• Dialysis-dependent kidney disease