Lee SG, et al. - Authors aimed to assess the specific alterations in amino acids (AAs) profile in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) compared with healthy controls. They also intended to identify the mechanisms behind these AA alterations. An analysis was conducted of 20 AAs, TNF-α and IL-6 in the fasting serum samples of the participants. In addition to branched chain amino acids BCAAs, higher fasting serum AAs such as glutamic acid, lysine, phenylalanine, arginine, alanine, tyrosine, aspartic acid were reported in patients with T2DM, that were intermediately elevated in patients with IFG. It was deduced that increase in fasting serum AAs possibly served as an early manifestation of insulin resistance. It was found probable that increased muscle proteolysis induced by insulin resistance and inflammatory cytokines was a mechanism for the rise in serum AA levels.