Exploring O‐GlcNAc modification of whole blood in healthy young adult males: relation to insulin sensitivity, anthropometric and metabolic markers (767.4)

Abstract

Abnormal O‐linked‐β‐N‐acetyl glucosamine glycosylation (O‐GlcNAc) has been increasingly published in relation to several chronic diseases including diabetes. Aims were to examine the relationship between anthropometric and metabolic markers and global protein O‐GlcNAc in whole blood from young adult male subjects participating in the Assessing Inherited Markers of Metabolic Syndrome in the Young (AIMMY) study. Subjects (n=24, 24±0.8y) were segregated by homeostatic model assessment score (HOMA‐IR); low (LH=0.60) or high (HH=1.61). No difference in body mass index (BMI), glucose or Hemoglobin a1c were found between groups. However, groups differed in % body fat, plasma triglycerides, and circulating insulin. Whole blood O‐GlcNAc levels and OGT modification were quantified by immunoblotting. Results demonstrated an increase in O‐GlcNAc modification in LH compared to HH (p=0.02) along with a strong positive correlation between HOMA‐IR and O‐GlcNAc (r=0.68, p<0.05). This effect was not related to differences in OGT expression. Quantifying differences in O‐GlcNAc levels of whole blood may detect metabolic disturbances present in a young healthy population free of any clinical pathological diagnosis.