Relationship between the lipidome, inflammatory markers and insulin resistance

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to (1) examine the effects of the phenotypic factors age, gender and BMI on the lipidomic profile and (2) investigate the relationship between the lipidome, inflammatory markers and insulin resistance. Specific ceramide, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine lipids were increased in females relative to males and specific lysophosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine lipids decreased as BMI increased. However, age had a minimal effect on the lipid profile with significant differences found in only two lipid species. Network analysis revealed strong negative correlations between the inflammatory markers CRP, TNF-α, resistin and MCP-1 and lipids in the LPC, PC and PE classes, whereas IL-8 formed positive correlations with lipids from the CER and SM classes. Further analysis revealed that LPC a C18:1 and PE ae C40:6 were highly associated with insulin resistance as indicated by HOMA-IR score. The present study identified lipids that are affected by BMI and gender and identified a series of lipids which had significant relationships with inflammatory markers. LPC a C18:1 and PE ae C40:6 were found to be highly associated with insulin resistance pointing to the possibility that the alterations in these specific lipids may play a role in the development of insulin resistance.

Impairment of lysophospholipid metabolism in obesity: altered plasma profile and desensitization to the modulatory properties of n–3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in a randomized controlled trial

“…Our results agree with previous research showing decreased concentrations of different species of lysophosphatidylcholines in obesity or insulin resistance in humans and mice (3,4,10,31) that persist even after weight loss (3). In contrast, increased concentrations of lysophosphatidylcholine species associated with the onset of type 1 diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity have been described as well (5,6,(32)(33)(34)(35), suggesting that the onset of these alterations might be associated with transient increases of lysophosphatidylcholine.…”

Combined untargeted and targeted metabolomic profiling reveals urinary biomarkers for discriminating obese from normal‐weight adolescents

“…). Furthermore, phospholipid reduction is known to have a positive association with insulin resistance . We also observed that most sphingomyelins (SMs) were decreased.…”

Cord Blood Lysophosphatidylcholine 16: 1 is Positively Associated with Birth Weight

“…A study investigating associations between BMI, inflammation and insulin resistance demonstrated negative associations between LPC 18: 1 and various adipokines and inflammatory mediators. Low levels of LPC 18: 1 together with increased levels of leptin or CRP were associated with increased HOMA scores [65]. Applied to the results of the current study, altered levels of LPCs hypothetically could affect fetal growth by influencing insulin resistance and insulin secretion.…”