Association of metabolic syndrome components with circulating levels of cytokine clusters in young women

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between circulating zinc α 2-glycoprotein (ZAG), irisin, betatrophin and adiponectin concentrations and metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and to analyze the effects of blood glucose and insulin on these cytokine concentrations in vivo. METHODS: A total of 196 young women, including 78 healthy women and 118 women with MetS components, were recruited for this cross-sectional study. An oral glucose tolerance test and euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp (EHC) were performed in healthy subjects and women with MetS components. An ELISA kit was used to measure serum ZAG, irisin, betatrophin, and adiponectin levels, and their relationship with the MetS components was analyzed. RESULTS: In women with MetS components, circulating irisin and betatrophin levels were significantly higher than those in the healthy women ((207 (150–248) vs 178 (147–228); P < 0.05) for irisin; (0.51 (0.38–0.63) vs 0.38 (0.23–0.52); P < 0.001) for betatrophin), but circulating ZAG and adiponectin levels were significantly lower (39.8 (26.4–50.4) vs (46.7 (40.6–63.0); P < 0.001) for ZAG; (36.5 (22.0–47.6) vs 41.2 (35.7–54.7); P < 0.01) for adiponectin). FBG, WC, and triglyceride were significantly correlated with the circulating levels of these four cytokines (P < 0.001 or <0.05). All four cytokines were associated with MetS and its components. In response to increasing insulin levels, circulating ZAG concentrations were markedly increased in both healthy subjects and women with MetS components during the EHC. However, serum irisin, betatrophin, and adiponectin levels in both healthy subjects and women with MetS components were significantly reduced compared with baseline. CONCLUSION: Serum ZAG, irisin, betatrophin and adiponectin were associated with MetS and might be biomarkers for screening MetS components.