title: Relationship of fetuin-A levels to weight-dependent insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Weight gain and obesity are of substantial importance for the development of insulin-resistance and type-2 diabetes mellitus. Fetuin-A, a liver-derived glycoprotein, may also play a role in these alterations. Several studies have demonstrated an association between fetuin-A and body weight which, however, was within a fairly small range at the border of overweight to obesity. The present study examines the relationship between fetuin-A and a wide range of BMI, together with basal insulin, and HOMA-IR. In addition, matched groups of non-diabetic patients and those with type-2 diabetes mellitus were compared.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the relationship between fetuin-A and BMI, insulin, HOMA-IR, glucose and HbA1c in a cohort of 445 non-diabetic obese subjects and 150 obese patients with type-2-diabetes mellitus (DM2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In relation to quintiles of fetuin-A a significant increase of BMI, basal insulin and HOMA-IR was observed between the 1st and 2nd quintile with no further change thereafter. Correspondingly, fetuin-A levels increased significantly only between the 1st and 2nd quintile of BMI, insulin or HOMA-IR, respectively. When patients with type 2 diabetes were compared with non-diabetic subjects matched for BMI, insulin, and age median fetuin-A levels were not significantly different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At the early stage of weight gain fetuin-A could be of relevance for the development of insulin resistance. For the further progressive resistance with increasing weight in the obesity range the present data do not support a role of fetuin-A. Similarly its contribution to the resistance of type-2 diabetes seems to be of minor importance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany. johannes.erdmann@lrz.tum.de
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erdmann
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salmhofer
authors.forename: Amelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knauß
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayr
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wagenpfeil
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sypchenko
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Luppa
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schusdziarra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D060749:alpha-2-HS-Glycoprotein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D060749:alpha-2-HS-Glycoprotein; C556354:AHSG protein, human; C517652:hemoglobin A1c protein, human