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. 2017 Mar;31(2):e22031.
doi: 10.1002/jcla.22031. Epub 2016 Jul 29.

Plasma Leptin in Patients at Intermediate to High Cardiovascular Risk With and Without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Martina Montagnana  1 , Cristiano Fava  2 , Giovanni Targher  3 , Massimo Franchini  4 , Elisa Danese  1 , Sara Bonafini  2 , Angela De Cata  3 , Gian Luca Salvagno  1 , Orazio Ruzzenente  1 , Gian Cesare Guidi  1 , Giuseppe Lippi  1
Affiliations

Plasma Leptin in Patients at Intermediate to High Cardiovascular Risk With and Without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Martina Montagnana et al. J Clin Lab Anal. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Background: A number of clinical studies have demonstrated that leptin concentrations are related to the metabolic disturbances that constitute the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to diabetes mellitus (DM).

Aim: To investigate possible determinants of leptin concentrations in a sample of patients at high cardiovascular (CV) risk carrying two or more features of the MetS and to investigate if any difference exist between at risk patients with or without DM.

Methods: Serum leptin concentrations were measured in 60 consecutive male patients affected by at least two CV risk factors which belong to the National Cholesterol Education Program/Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) definition of MetS: 30 patients affected by type 2 DM (T2DM) and 30 nondiabetic patients (non-T2DM). Nineteen healthy subjects were included in the study as a control group (HC).

Results: Leptin was significantly higher in patients carrying two or more features of the MetS compared with HC (P = 0.02). Stratifying MetS patients for DM, we found that leptin level was higher in non-T2DM patients (7.8 ng/ml), intermediate in T2DM (6.2 ng/ml), and lower in HC (4.6 ng/ml). In MetS patients, a positive correlation was found between leptin and waist, triglycerides, and number of MetS criteria. After stratification for T2DM, the correlations were still significant in the non-T2DM but not in the T2DM group.

Conclusions: In our sample of moderate-to-high-risk patients, leptin level is positively associated with waist circumference and triglycerides but only in non-T2DM patients. Our data suggest that diabetic subjects could modulate leptin production in a different way compared with patients carrying other MetS-related anomalies.

Keywords: MetS; cardiovascular risk; diabetes mellitus; leptin; metabolic syndrome.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fasting plasma leptin concentrations in healthy controls (HC) compared with patients carrying two or more features of the MetS (a) and compared with patients carrying two or more features of the MetS stratified for diabetes status (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spearman correlation between fasting plasma leptin concentrations, waist, and triglycerides values in T2DM and non‐T2DM patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between fasting plasma leptin concentrations and number of MetS criteria in T2DM and non‐T2DM patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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