Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov 20;5(4):232-43.
doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i4.232.

Association of insulin resistance with serum ferritin and aminotransferases-iron hypothesis

Jean Huang  1 , Rudruidee Karnchanasorn  1 , Horng-Yih Ou  1 , Wei Feng  1 , Lee-Ming Chuang  1 , Ken C Chiu  1 , Raynald Samoa  1
Affiliations

Association of insulin resistance with serum ferritin and aminotransferases-iron hypothesis

Jean Huang et al. World J Exp Med. .

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the relationship of iron indices with diabetes mellitus (DM) in those without hemochromatosis.

Methods: This cross-sectional study examined data collected during the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Only those who fasted properly and were not anemic with transferrin saturation < 45% were included (n = 6849). Insulin sensitivity and beta cell function were calculated from fasting glucose and insulin concentrations. Indices of iron metabolism were examined in the presence or absence of DM. We examined the relationship of insulin sensitivity and beta cell function with serum ferritin concentration. The influence of C-reactive protein and liver enzymes was also investigated.

Results: Serum ferritin concentration was significantly higher in diabetic subjects (P = 0.0001 to < 0.000001). The difference remained significant after adjustment for age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, and mineral/iron supplement (P = 0.03 to < 0.000001). In those who did not take insulin, serum ferritin concentration was negatively associated with insulin sensitivity (P = 0.05 to 0.00001), but not with beta cell function. The alanine aminotransferase was correlated with serum ferritin concentration (P = 0.02 to < 0.000001) but not with insulin sensitivity, suggesting the role of the liver in iron-associated insulin resistance.

Conclusion: As most of diabetes is type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance is a cardinal feature of type 2 diabetes, disordered iron metabolism could play a role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes through its effect on liver function.

Keywords: Beta cell function; Diabetes mellitus; Ferritin; Insulin sensitivity; Liver.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Witte DL, Crosby WH, Edwards CQ, Fairbanks VF, Mitros FA. Practice guideline development task force of the College of American Pathologists. Hereditary hemochromatosis. Clin Chim Acta. 1996;245:139–200. - PubMed
    1. Feder JN, Penny DM, Irrinki A, Lee VK, Lebrón JA, Watson N, Tsuchihashi Z, Sigal E, Bjorkman PJ, Schatzman RC. The hemochromatosis gene product complexes with the transferrin receptor and lowers its affinity for ligand binding. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1998;95:1472–1477. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Halsall DJ, McFarlane I, Luan J, Cox TM, Wareham NJ. Typical type 2 diabetes mellitus and HFE gene mutations: a population-based case - control study. Hum Mol Genet. 2003;12:1361–1365. - PubMed
    1. Ford ES, Cogswell ME. Diabetes and serum ferritin concentration among U.S. adults. Diabetes Care. 1999;22:1978–1983. - PubMed
    1. Haap M, Fritsche A, Mensing HJ, Häring HU, Stumvoll M. Association of high serum ferritin concentration with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in healthy people. Ann Intern Med. 2003;139:869–871. - PubMed