Serum galectin-1 levels are positively correlated with body fat and negatively with fasting glucose in obese children

• Published in: Peptides (New York, N.Y. : 1980) Vol. 95; pp. 51 - 56
• Main Authors: Acar, Sezer, Paketçi, Ahu, Küme, Tuncay, Tuhan, Hale, Gürsoy Çalan, Özlem, Demir, Korcan, Böber, Ece, Abacı, Ayhan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Adipose Tissue - physiopathology; Adolescent; anti-inflammatory activity; Blood Glucose; blood pressure; blood serum; Body Mass Index; C-reactive protein; C-Reactive Protein - metabolism; Child; childhood obesity; children; correlation; Fasting; Female; Galectin 1 - blood; Galectin-1; Glucose; Glucose - metabolism; Humans; insulin; Insulin resistance; leptin; Leptin - blood; lipids; Male; metabolism; Obesity; Obesity - blood; Obesity - physiopathology; regression analysis; waist circumference; Obesity; Galectin-1; Insulin resistance; Adipose tissue; Glucose
• ISSN: 0196-9781; 1873-5169; 1873-5169
• DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2017.07.009

•This is the first to display higher galectin-1 levels in obese subjects than healthy children.•The specific role of galectin-1 in obese subject is not clear.•Galectin-1 is positively correlated with body fat and waist circumference in obese subjects.•Galectin-1 is negatively correlated with fasting glucose.•Galectin-1 may have an effect of improving glucose metabolism in obese subjects. Galectin-1, a recently identified peptide, is primarily released from the adipose tissue. Although galectin-1 was shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect, its specific function is not clearly understood. We aimed to evaluate the relationship of serum galectin-1 levels with clinical and laboratory parameters in childhood obesity. A total of 45 obese children (mean age: 12.1±3.1years) and 35 normal-weight children (mean age: 11.8±2.2years) were enrolled. Clinical [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), percentage of body fat and blood pressure] and biochemical [glucose, insulin, lipids, galectin-1, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and leptin levels] parameters were assessed. Serum galectin-1, hsCRP and leptin levels were significantly higher in obese children than those in normal-weight children (12.4 vs 10.2ng/mL, p<0.001; 3.28 vs 0.63mg/L, p<0.001; 8.3 vs 1.2ng/mL, p<0.001, respectively). In obese children, galectin-1 levels correlated negatively with fasting glucose (r=−0.346, p=0.020) and positively with fat mass (r=0.326, p=0.026) and WC standard deviation score (SDS) (r=0.451, p=0.002). The multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that serum galectin-1 levels were significantly associated with fasting glucose and WC SDS. This study showed that obese children had significantly higher galectin-1 levels in proportion to fat mass in obese cases than those in healthy children, which may be interpreted as a compensatory increase in an attempt to improve glucose metabolism.