MedWire News: Levels of the soluble membrane glycoprotein CD36 correlate negatively with insulin sensitivity and relate positively to interleukin (IL)-6, report researchers.
Levels of soluble CD36 are elevated in Type 2 diabetes and are thought to correlate strongly with insulin resistance and the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Aase Handberg (Aarhus University Hospital Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade, Denmark) and co-workers investigated the relationship between insulin sensitivity, low-grade inflammation, and CD36 in 90 glucose tolerant and 57 glucose intolerant obese men.
The researchers measured insulin sensitivity of participants using the frequent sample intravenous glucose tolerance test and soluble CD36 using an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay.
In glucose intolerant individuals, soluble CD36 correlated negatively with insulin sensitivity and positively with IL-6, fasting glucose, fasting triglycerides, fat-free mass, and platelet count.
In the glucose tolerant group, soluble CD36 correlated positively with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and glucose effectiveness and negatively with fasting glucose.
Following further analysis, Handberg and team report that insulin sensitivity was responsible for 22% of the variation in CD36 independently of age, body mass index (BMI), and IL-6 in glucose intolerant individuals. Men with above average levels of HbA1c also had higher levels of CD36 than those with below average levels of HbA1c.
The link with IL-6 was not as strong, but IL-6 did contribute 18% of CD36 variance after controlling for age, BMI, waist diameter, and fat-free mass.
“Soluble CD36 in moderately obese, glucose-intolerant males is related to insulin resistance and IL-6,” conclude Handberg et al in the journal Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research.
“Circulating soluble CD36 might represent a marker of insulin resistance and inflammation… in men with decreased glucose tolerance.”
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