BackgroundLipocalin-2 is a novel adipokine with connection to insulin resistance. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of serum lipocalin-2 with glucose metabolism and other metabolic phenotype in a large-scale Chinese population.MethodsWe evaluated serum lipocalin-2 in a cross-sectional sample of 2519 Chinese aged from 50 to 82 year in a Shanghai downtown district by ELISA. Glucose, insulin, lipid profile, inflammatory markers, and adipokines were also measured.ResultsSerum lipocalin-2 was significantly higher in subjects with isolated impaired fasting glucose, isolated impaired glucose tolerance, combined impaired fasting glucose/impaired glucose tolerance and newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes than in those with normal glucose regulation. Lipocalin-2 elevation was clearly associated with a higher risk for impaired glucose regulation (OR 1.30 for each 10 ng/ml increase in serum lipocalin-2, 95% CI 1.23-1.62, p = 0.009) after adjustment of age, gender, smoking, alcohol drinking, family history of diabetes, serum CRP, serum adiponectin, serum CXCL5, HOMA-IR, BMI, and waist/hip ratio. The OR for participants with impaired glucose regulation and type 2 diabetes was 1.31 (95% CI 1.21-1.69, p < 0.001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that elevated serum lipocalin-2 is closely and independently associated with impaired glucose regulation and type 2 diabetes.

Recent genome-wide association studies reported that GCKR rs780094 polymorphism is associated with elevated fasting serum triglyceride levels and elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). There are a ample of data on the association between circulating triglyceride, CRP concentrations and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD). To determine whether the GCKR rs780094 polymorphism contributes to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver, a case-control study was performed in 903 Chinese subjects. Among study population, 436 patients with B-mode ultrasound-proven NAFLD (318 with steatosis hepatis I°, 90 with steatosis hepatis II° and 28 with steatosis hepatis III°) and 467 controls were genotyped by using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. We confirmed the association of GCKR rs780094 with NAFLD in Chinese people (OR = 1.607, 95% CI 1.139-2.271, P[dom] = 7.2 × 10(-3)). In this study, polymorphism in GCKR rs780094 was not significantly associated with the degree of fatty infiltration of the liver. In addition, the T-allele of GCKR rs780094 was significantly associated with increasing fasting triglyceride (P[add] = 3.8 × 10(-4)) and CRP (P[add] = 2.9 × 10(-4)) concentrations after adjusting for age, gender, and BMI. The association with NAFLD remained significant after adjustment for triglyceride, while adjustment for CRP abolished the association. Genetic variation in GCKR gene rs780094 polymorphism contributes to the risk of NAFLD in Chinese people. The effect of genotype on NAFLD is probably mediated through chronic low-grade systemic inflammation rather than through dislipidemia.

Molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of meningioma are not fully elucidated. In this study, we established differential gene expression profiles between meningiomas and brain arachnoidal tissue by using Affymetrix GeneChip Human U133 Plus 2.0 Array. KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated that PI3K/Akt and TGFβ signaling pathways were up-regulated in fibroblastic meningioma, and focal adhesion and ECM-receptor interaction pathways were activated in anaplastic meningioma. EGFL6 was one of the most up-regulated genes in fibroblastic meningioma by microarray analysis. Quantitative real-time PCR demonstrated that benign meningiomas had significantly higher levels of EGFL6 mRNA than brain arachnoidal tissue and atypical and anaplastic meningiomas (P<0.001). EGFL6 gene was also highly expressed in ovarian cancer, but expressed lowly in other investigated tumors. ELISA analysis showed that patients with benign meningiomas and ovarian cancers had the highest serum levels of EGFL6 (mean concentration: 672 pg/ml for benign meningiomas, and 616 pg/ml for ovarian cancers). Healthy people and patients with other tumors, however, had low levels of serum EGFL6. In conclusion, we proposed that activation of PI3K/Akt and integrin-mediated signaling pathways was involved in the pathogenesis of benign and anaplastic meningiomas, respectively. We also presented evidence that EGFL6 was overexpressed in benign meningioma tissues and serum.