Independent association of elevated serum hepatocyte growth factor levels with development of insulin resistance in a 10‐year prospective study

Abstract

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptors form a hybrid complex with insulin receptors in the liver of mice, which lead to robust signalling to regulate glucose metabolism. Serum HGF levels are high in subjects with metabolic syndrome and/or obesity. Accordingly, we prospectively investigated the relationship between HGF and the development of insulin resistance (IR) in a general population without IR at baseline. A total of 1492 subjects received health examinations. After excluding subjects with diabetes and/or IR (n=402) at baseline, the remaining subjects (n=1090) were followed-up 10 years later. Complete data sets were available from 716 subjects for prospective analysis. Logistic regression was performed to determine factors associated with the development of IR after 10years. In subjects without diabetes at baseline, serum HGF levels were higher (0·26±0·10ng/ml, n=259) in subjects with IR than without it (0·22±0·09ng/ml, n=1090). After deleting subjects who developed liver disease during follow-up, 188 were found to have developed IR at 10years after the original screening. HGF (P<0·05), age (P<0·001), homoeostasis model assessment index (P<0·001), HDL-c (P<0·05; inversely) and hypertensive medication (P<0·05) were significantly associated with the development of IR by multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis. A significant (P<0·05) relative risk [1·75 (95%CI: 1·01-3·12)] for the development of IR was observed in the highest (≥0·30ng/ml) vs the lowest categories (<0·15ng/ml) of HGF after adjustments for confounders. Our 10-year prospective study suggests that elevated serum HGF levels were significantly associated with the development of IR.