Plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels and insulin resistance in nondiabetic hypertensive subjects.
OBJECTIVE
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is associated with insulin resistance in certain conditions. However, whether TNF-alpha is related to insulin resistance in hypertensive subjects is still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the status of TNF-alpha and insulin resistance in hypertension.


METHODS
Newly diagnosed nondiabetic 17 essentially hypertensive (6 men, 11 women) patients, and 11 control healthy subjects (5 men, 6 women) are involved in the study. Body mass index (BMI), insulin, fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, and TNF-alpha levels were measured. Insulin resistance is assessed according to homeostasis model of assessment (HOMA-IR).


RESULTS
Serum insulin (8.4 +/- 2.7 vs. 6.1 +/- 1.4 mIU/ml; p < 0.01), triglyceride (245.0 +/- 39.9 vs. 193.0 +/- 22.8 mg/dl; p < 0.01), and TNF-alpha (4.2 +/- 0.7 vs. 3.0 +/- 0.6 pg/ml; p < 0.001) levels, and HOMA-IR (2.0 +/- 0.8 vs. 1.3 +/- 0.3; p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the hypertensive patients compared to the normotensive control group. There were positive correlations between TNF-alpha levels and body mass index (r = 0.64, p < 0.01), and triglyceride (r = 0.55 p = 0.02) levels in the whole study group. However, there was no correlation of either TNF-alpha or HOMA-IR.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data revealed that hypertensive patients have insulin resistance and higher TNF-alpha levels, but there is no relation between TNF-alpha levels and insulin resistance.
Demirbaş
Berrin
B
Ankara Education and Research Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Ankara, Turkey. sgulers@yahoo.com
Güler
Serdar
S
Cakir
Bekir
B
Culha
Cavit
C
Aral
Yalçin
Y
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D002784:Cholesterol