Vaspin is related to gender, puberty and deteriorating insulin sensitivity in children

Abstract

Background: Visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) has been suggested as a novel adipocytokine related to obesity and insulin sensitivity in adults. Design: We quantified vaspin serum concentrations in 65 lean and 67 obese children and aimed to evaluate the relationship of vaspin with physical development, obesity, and metabolic and cardiovascular phenotypes in children. We further assessed the acute vaspin response to glucose provocation in 20 obese adolescents and evaluated tissue expression patterns of vaspin in humans. Results: Vaspin levels were significantly higher in girls than in boys. In girls, vaspin increased with age and pubertal stage, whereas there was no change with development in boys. Obese girls had lower vaspin serum levels than those of lean controls, but there was no significant correlation with body mass index (BMI). Independent of sex, age and BMI, lower vaspin was associated with better insulin sensitivity, with higher systolic blood pressure and impaired endothelial function. In response to glucose provocation during an oral glucose tolerance test, vaspin serum levels declined by approximately 25% in adolescents with hyperinsulinemia, whereas there was no significant decline in normoinsulinemic patients. In support of our clinical data, we not only confirmed vaspin mRNA expression in adipose tissue but also found consistent expression of vaspin in the liver and indications for expression in the pancreas and the skin. Conclusion: We showed that gender differences in circulating vaspin levels develop during pubertal progression in girls. Although vaspin's association with obesity remains controversial, vaspin was increased with worsening insulin resistance already in children and was acutely down-regulated following glucose provocation in insulin-resistant adolescents independent of obesity. Besides adipose tissue, vaspin expression in the liver and the pancreas may potentially contribute to circulating vaspin levels and their regulation.

Elevated vaspin and leptin levels are associated with obesity in prepubertal Korean children

“…The recently published data is parallel with our data by means that vaspin plays an important role in childhood obesity. Our results, however, contradict those of previous studies showing that elevated vaspin concentrations are not related to obesity [13,21]. This discrepancy may be partly explained by different population origins of study sub- 001 Independent variables were included in multiple linear regression analysis if p value was less than 0.10 in univariate linear regression analysis.…”

“…However, these previous studies also included relatively small numbers of participants with a wide age range, resulting in small, heterogeneous study samples [13,21]. The present study had a larger sample size and all children were the same age.…”

“…Some human studies have found that elevated vaspin concentrations are associated with higher body mass index (BMI) and impaired insulin sensitivity [17,18]; however, other studies did not observe this relationship [19]. Several pediatric studies, but not all, illustrated possible relationships between vaspin, insulin sensitivity, and obesity [13,20,21]. Some reported that weight reduction decreased circulating vaspin levels [22][23][24], but others did not [13,25].…”

“…vaspin levels develop during pubertal progression in girls and are not present in prepubertal children [21]. Another study regarding vaspin levels in prepubertal children revealed that there is no difference between the two sexes [13], suggesting that puberty may play a role in sexual dimorphism in vaspin levels.…”

Waspina a wybrane wykładniki stanu kośćca u dziewcząt z jadłowstrętem psychicznym

“…The body fat percentage was found to be the strongest predictor of visceral vaspin, and insulin sensitivity seems to be the strongest determinant of subcutaneous vaspin expression [17]. On the other hand, Körner et al [19] revealed that vaspin concentration was lower in obese girls compared to lean controls; also, no correlation was found between serum vaspin and BMI. It is generally believed that differences in vaspin levels between obese individuals (children, adolescents, adults) are related to gender, age, physical activity, and hormone metabolism.…”