Increased Plasma DPP4 Activity Is an Independent Predictor of the Onset of Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese over 4 Years: Result from the China National Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Study

AIMS: To determine whether fasting plasma Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 (DPP4) activity and active Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) were predictive of the onset of metabolic syndrome. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted of 2042 adults (863 men and 1,179 women) aged 18-70 years without metabolic syndrome examined in 2007(baseline) and 2011(follow-up). Baseline plasma DPP4 activity was determined as the rate of cleavage of 7-amino-4- methylcoumarin (AMC) from the synthetic substrate H-glycyl-prolyl-AMC and active GLP-1 was determined by enzymoimmunoassay. RESULTS: During an average of 4 years of follow-up, 131 men (15.2%) and 174 women (14.8%) developed metabolic syndrome. In multiple linear regression analysis, baseline DPP4 activity was an independent predictor of an increase in insulin resistance over a 4-year period (P<0.01). In multivariable-adjusted models, the odds ratio (OR) for incident metabolic syndrome comparing the highest with the lowest quartiles of DPP4 activity and active GLP-1 were 2.82, 0.45 for men and 2.48, 0.36 for women respectively. Furthermore, plasma DPP4 activity significantly improved the area under the ROC curve for predicting new-onset metabolic syndrome based on information from metabolic syndrome components (Both P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: DPP4 activity is an important predictor of the onset of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in apparently healthy Chinese men and women. This finding may have important implications for understanding the aetiology of metabolic syndrome. TRIAL REGISTRATION: #TR-CCH-Chi CTR-CCH-00000361