Association of Plasma Irisin with Bone Mineral Density in a Large Chinese Population Using an Extreme Sampling Design

Abstract

Irisin, a myokine produced by skeletal muscle in response to physical exercise, promotes trans-differentiation of white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue. Recent evidences suggested that irisin also plays an important role in the control of bone metabolism. This study aimed to ascertain the relationship between plasma irisin and bone mineral density (BMD) in Chinese population by adoption of an extreme sampling method. Based on a large and screened Chinese elderly population (N = 6308), two subgroups with extremely high and low hip BMD were selected for discovery (N = 80, high vs. low BMD = 44:36) and validation (N = 60, high vs. low BMD = 30:30), respectively. Plasma irisin, P1NP, and β-CTx were measured using commercially available ELISA kits. Other metabolic parameters (e.g., blood glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides) were collected. Student's t test and Spearman correlation analyses were conducted in SPSS. Significant difference was discovered for plasma irisin between females and age-matched males (N = 80, male vs. female = 42:38, P = 0.002). The plasma irisin levels were significantly higher in high BMD subjects than in low BMD subjects, which was observed in both discovery (P = 0.012) and validation samples (P = 0.022). However, such observation was limited to males only. Further correlation analyses in males showed that plasma irisin was correlated with BMD (r = 0.362, P = 0.025) and triglyceride (r = - 0.354, P = 0.032). Plasma irisin levels were associated with hip BMD in Chinese elderly men. This study represented the first effort of investigating the relationship of plasma irisin and BMD in elderly population. The positive correlation between plasma irisin and BMD hints intrinsic communication between muscle and bone.

Role of the Myokine Irisin on Bone Homeostasis: Review of the Current Evidence

“…Additional correlation analyses demonstrated increased plasma irisin levels correlated with bone marrow density and triglyceride levels in Chinese elderly males (Figure 5) [92].…”

“…An extreme sampling design was implemented by Wu et al, who utilized a large screened Chinese elderly population with extremely high hip bone marrow density (Table 6) [92]. Plasma irisin levels were significantly elevated in these subjects when compared to low bone marrow density controls in both discovery and validation samples.…”

Irisin deficiency disturbs bone metabolism

“…US20180153960A1, 2018). Among clinical studies, a large population study shows the positive correlation between plasma irisin and BMD (Wu et al, 2018). In polycystic ovary syndrome patients, the circulating irisin level and BMD have a strong positive correlation (Fawzy et al, 2018).…”

Establishing the Irisin Level of the Blood Serum as an Early Predictive Marker of Low-Energy Bone Transformations in Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Одним из цитокинов скелетных мышц является ирисин [4]. Он участвует в контроле метаболизма костной ткани [5]. Снижение его уровня в сыворотки крови (СК) наблюдается при остеопоретических (низкоэнергетических) переломах костей (ОПК) независимо от минеральной плотности костной ткани (МПКТ) [6].…”