Measurement of the high-molecular weight form of adiponectin in plasma is useful for the prediction of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
The high-molecular weight (HMW) form of adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived insulin-sensitizing hormone, has been reported to be the most active form of this hormone. We investigated whether measurement of plasma HMW adiponectin levels, using our newly developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system for selective measurement of human HMW adiponectin level, may be useful for the prediction of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
A total of 298 patients admitted for diabetes treatment or coronary angiography served as study subjects. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves for the HMW ratio (HMWR; ratio of plasma level of HMW adiponectin to that of total adiponectin) and plasma total adiponectin levels were plotted to predict the presence of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.


RESULTS
The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the HMWR values to predict the presence of insulin resistance was significantly larger than that of plasma total adiponectin level in total subjects (0.713 [95% CI 0.620-0.805] vs. 0.615 [0.522-0.708], P = 0.0160). The AUC for the HMWR values to predict the presence of metabolic syndrome was significantly larger than that for plasma total adiponectin levels in men (0.806 [0.747-0.865] vs. 0.730 [0.660-0.800], P = 0.0025) and in women (0.743 [0.659-0.828] vs. 0.637 [0.532-0.742], P = 0.0458).


CONCLUSIONS
The HMWR value has better predictive power for the prediction of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome than plasma total adiponectin level.
Hara
Kazuo
K
Department of Metabolic Diseases, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
Horikoshi
Momoko
M
Yamauchi
Toshimasa
T
Yago
Hirokazu
H
Miyazaki
Osamu
O
Ebinuma
Hiroyuki
H
Imai
Yasushi
Y
Nagai
Ryozo
R
Kadowaki
Takashi
T
D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D052242:Adiponectin; D015415:Biomarkers