Serum Levels Of Human Angiopoietin-related Growth Factor In Human Body

Abstract

The angiopoietin-related growth factor (AGF) is a novel hepatokine that increases energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. Animal models demonstrated AGF as a candidate for treatment of obesity and diabetes; however, no human study has been reported. PURPOSE: To determine the serum levels of AGF in human body and the correlations with biochemical markers or body measurement data. METHODS: From Korean Rural Genomic Cohort (KRGC) study, 195 subjects were enrolled (age 56.1 ± 8.015, 98 were male, 97 were female). Sandwich ELISA was performed to measure the serum levels of AGF; biochemical markers and body measurement data collected in KRGC study were used for correlation analysis. RESULTS: Serum AGF levels were significantly increased in the people with metabolic syndrome (328.48±16.28ng/mL) compared to those of healthy people (276.65±10.72ng/mL). Among the components of metabolic syndrome, people with high waist circumferences showed significant higher serum AGF than in control group. Correlations with significance were observed between serum AGF and weight, waist, hip, body mass index, total body fat, visceral fat, LDL, AST, ALT, fasting insulin, or 1 hour insulin level of oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT) in positive, and age in negative. CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of human AGF were diametrically opposed to hypotheses from animal models. Further study is needed to investigate the AGF resistance. This is the first report of serum levels of AGF in human.