Relationship of serum Chemerin to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

To detect the serum Chemerin levels in patients with obesity and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and explore the relationship of serum Chemerin to body fat parameters, glucose and lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance index (IR). 76 newly diagnosed T2DM patients and 76 subjects with normal glucose regulation (NGR), with the body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m(2) (NW) or > or = 25 kg/m(2) (OW/OB), 38 in each subgroups each, underwent body measurement including body weight, height, waist circumference, and hip circumference, and waist hip ratio (WHR) and calculation of body mass index (BMI) were calculated. Peripheral blood samples were collected from them to detect the blood lipids, glucose, hemoglobin A1C, fasting insulin (FINS), and fasting C peptide. Homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) was calculated. ELISA was used to detect the Chemerin level, body mass index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR) were evaluated and insulin sensitivity was assessed by HOMA-IR. The serum Chemerin level of the females was (109 +/- 28) microg/L, significantly higher than that of the males [(98 +/- 23) microg/L, P < 0.05]. After adjustment of gender and age, the serum Chemerin level of the OW/OB group, including NGR-OW/OB and T2DM-OW/OB subgroups, was (113 +/- 27) microg/L, significantly higher than that of the NW group [(94 +/- 25) microg/L, P < 0.01], that of the NGR-OW/OB subgroup being the highest. Partial correlation analyses showed that the serum Chemerin was positively correlated with waist circumference, WHR, fasting serum C peptide, HOMA-IR, TG, ALT, gamma-GT, and uric acid (r = 0.460 - 0.182, all P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (r = -0.251, P < 0.01). Stepwise regression analysis showed that fasting serum C peptide and TG were the independent variables of Chemerin (beta = 0.328, 0.280, P < 0.05). Serum Chemerin levels are much higher in females and obese subjects are much higher than in men and subjects with normal weight. Serum Chemerin is correlated with insulin level, body fat disposition and lipid metabolism which suggesting that it may play a role in the pathophysiology of obesity and metabolic syndrome.