ASPROSIN: A NOVEL BIOMARKER OF TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has a deadly toll on human health. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid for the creation of biomarker to indicate the newly diagnostic type 2 diabetes and effective therapy. It well known that adipose tissue of mammals can store energy and secrete such hormones. Therefore, obesity is associated with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. Recently, newly identified glucogenic hormone named “asprosin” has been developed in white adipose tissue, encoded by the gene Fibrillin 1 (Fbn1). Fbn1 is a 230-kb gene with 65 coding exons. These exons encode a 2,871-amino-acid long proprotein called proFibrillin which is proteolytically cleaved near its C-terminus by the enzyme furin convertase to give Fbn1, a member of the fibrillin family, in addition the 140-amino-acid long protein hormone asprosin. It has a metabolic role during fasting condition as it induces liver to secrete glucose for maintaining homeostasis as well as centrally stimulates appetite. It was reported that plasma asprosin concentrations increased in human/mice with type 2 diabetes compared with controls. However, it was significantly reduced in patients with neonatal progeriod syndrome who had characteristic features of low appetite and extreme leanness. This syndrome is due to the truncated mutation in Fbn1. Although the great biological role of asprosin in vivo, it still limited in research, particularly in the therapy of type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to provide an overview of asprosin and its possibility to be used as a novel biomarker of type 2 diabetes and obesity.