Adiponectin-leptin Ratio is a Functional Biomarker of Adipose Tissue Inflammation

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 454
• Main Authors: Frühbeck, Gema, Catalán, Victoria, Rodríguez, Amaia, Ramírez, Beatriz, Becerril, Sara, Salvador, Javier, Colina, Inmaculada, Gómez-Ambrosi, Javier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.02.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: adiponectin; adipose tissue; amyloid; Atherosclerosis; Biomarkers; blood serum; Body fat; Cancer; Diabetes; Endocrinology; Epidemiology; Fatty liver; health effects assessments; humans; Inflammation; Insulin resistance; leptin; Metabolic syndrome; noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; Nutrition; Obesity; patients; Physiology; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Weight control; Spain; metabolic syndrome; adipose tissue; type 2 diabetes; inflammation; adiponectin/leptin ratio; obesity
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11020454

Obesity favors the development of cardiometabolic alterations such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the metabolic syndrome (MS). Obesity and the MS are distinguished by an increase in circulating leptin concentrations, in parallel to a drop in the levels of adiponectin. Consequently, the Adpn/Lep ratio has been suggested as a maker of dysfunctional adipose tissue. We aimed to investigate in humans (n = 292) the reliability of the Adpn/Lep ratio as a biomarker of adipose tissue dysfunction. We considered that an Adpn/Lep ratio of ≥1.0 can be considered normal, a ratio of ≥0.5 <1.0 suggests moderate-medium increased risk, and a ratio of <0.5 indicates a severe increase in cardiometabolic risk. Using these cut-offs, 5%, 54% and 48% of the lean, normoglycemic and without-MS subjects, respectively, fall within the group with an Adpn/Lep ratio below 0.5; while 89%, 86% and 90% of the obese, with T2D and with MS patients fall within the same group (p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation (r = −0.21, p = 0.005) between the Adpn/Lep ratio and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations, a marker of adipose tissue dysfunction, was found. We concluded that the Adpn/Lep ratio is a good indicator of a dysfunctional adipose tissue that may be a useful estimator of obesity- and MS-associated cardiometabolic risk, allowing the identification of a higher number of subjects at risk.