Vaspin gene expression in human adipose tissue: Association with obesity and type 2 diabetes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.11.039Get rights and content

Abstract

Recently, vaspin was identified as an adipokine with insulin-sensitizing effects, which is predominantly secreted from visceral adipose tissue in a rat model of type 2 diabetes. In this study, we examined whether vaspin mRNA expression is a marker of visceral obesity and correlates with anthropometric and metabolic parameters in paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue from 196 subjects with a wide range of obesity, body fat distribution, insulin sensitivity, and glucose tolerance. Vaspin mRNA expression was only detectable in 23% of the visceral and in 15% of the subcutaneous (SC) adipose tissue samples. Vaspin mRNA expression was not detectable in lean subjects (BMI < 25) and was more frequently detected in patients with type 2 diabetes. No significant correlations were found between visceral vaspin gene expression and visceral fat area or SC vaspin expression. However, visceral vaspin expression significantly correlates with BMI, % body fat, and 2 h OGTT plasma glucose. Subcutaneous vaspin mRNA expression is significantly correlated with WHR, fasting plasma insulin concentration, and glucose infusion rate during steady state of an euglycemic–hyperinsulinemic clamp. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed % body fat as strongest predictor of visceral vaspin and insulin sensitivity as strongest determinant of SC vaspin mRNA expression. In conclusion, our data indicate that induction of human vaspin mRNA expression in adipose tissue is regulated in a fat depot-specific manner and could be associated with parameters of obesity, insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism.

Section snippets

Research design and methods

Subjects. Paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue were obtained from 196 Caucasian men (n = 98) and women (n = 98) who underwent open abdominal surgery for gastric banding, cholecystectomy, appendectomy, weight reduction surgery, abdominal injuries, or explorative laparotomy. The age ranged from 23 to 86 years and body mass index from 20.8 to 54.1 kg/m2. Thirty-six subjects had type 2 diabetes and 31 subjects had impaired glucose tolerance. All subjects had a stable weight with no

Visceral and subcutaneous vaspin mRNA expression

The analysis of 196 paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue revealed that vaspin mRNA expression was only detectable in 45 (23%) of the visceral and in 30 (15%) of the subcutaneous (SC) adipose tissue samples. None of the lean subjects (BMI < 25, n = 55) had detectable vaspin mRNA expression, whereas frequency of subjects with vaspin mRNA expression increased from overweight to obese individuals (Fig. 1). RT-PCR results were confirmed by Northern blot analysis in ten subjects

Discussion

Visceral adipose tissue-derived serpin (vaspin) was recently isolated as an adipocytokine from visceral white adipose tissue of Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats [12]. The OLETF rat is a model of type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia [18]. Vaspin was highly expressed in 30-week old rats, the age when obesity, body weight, and insulin levels peak in OLETF rats [12]. We studied vaspin mRNA expression in paired

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), BL 580/3-1 (to M.B.) and FA 376/3-1 (to M.F.) and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF) at the University of Leipzig (Project N03) (to M.B.).

References (18)

  • S. Fujioka et al.

    Contribution of intra-abdominal fat accumulation to the impairment of glucose and lipid metabolism in human obesity

    Metabolism

    (1987)
  • P. Björntorp

    Metabolic implication of body fat distribution

    Diabetes Care

    (1991)
  • K.N. Frayn

    Visceral fat and insulin resistance-causative or correlative

    Br. J. Nutri.

    (2000)
  • B.L. Wajchenberg

    Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue: their relation to the metabolic syndrome

    Endocr. Rev.

    (2000)
  • A. Thorne et al.

    A pilot study of long-term effects of a novel obesity treatment: omentectomy in connection with adjustable gastric banding

    Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord.

    (2002)
  • S. Klein et al.

    Absence of an effect of liposuction on insulin action and risk factors for coronary heart disease

    N. Engl. J. Med.

    (2004)
  • V. Van Harmelen et al.

    Leptin secretion from subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue in women

    Diabetes

    (1998)
  • C.T. Montague et al.

    Depot-related gene expression in human subcutaneous and omental adipocytes

    Diabetes

    (1998)
  • M.C. Alessi et al.

    Production of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 by human adipose tissue: possible link between visceral fat accumulation and vascular disease

    Diabetes

    (1997)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

View full text