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
. 2018 Feb 25;10(3):260.
doi: 10.3390/nu10030260.

Serum Carotenoids Are Inversely Associated with RBP4 and Other Inflammatory Markers in Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults

Lipeng Jing  1 , Mianli Xiao  2 , Hongli Dong  3 , Jiesheng Lin  4 , Gengdong Chen  5 , Wenhua Ling  6 , Yuming Chen  7   8
Affiliations

Serum Carotenoids Are Inversely Associated with RBP4 and Other Inflammatory Markers in Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults

Lipeng Jing et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

(1) Background: Carotenoids may be inversely associated with inflammatory markers (i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β). However, data are scarce on retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) in humans. We examined the associations among serum carotenoids, RBP4 and several inflammatory markers in a Chinese population. (2) Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study included 3031 participants (68% males) aged 40-75 years in Guangzhou, China. Serum concentrations of carotenoids, RBP4, and inflammatory markers were measured. (3) Results: Generally, serum individual and total carotenoids were significantly and inversely associated with retinol-adjusted RBP4, RBP4, hsCRP, MCP1, and TNF-alpha levels. Age- and gender-adjusted partial correlation coefficients between total carotenoids and the above inflammatory markers were -0.129, -0.097, -0.159, -0.079, and -0.014 (all p < 0.01, except for TNF-alpha with p >0.05), respectively. The multivariate-adjusted values of partial correlation coefficients for these inflammation-related markers were -0.098, -0.079, -0.114, -0.090, and -0.079 (all p < 0.01), respectively. Among the individual carotenoids, those with the most predominant association were lutein-zeaxanthin and total carotenoids for retinol-adjusted RBP4 and RBP4, alpha- and beta-carotene for hsCRP, and alpha-carotene for MCP1 and TNF-alpha. No significant associations were observed for IL-6 and IL-1beta. (4) Conclusions: Serum carotenoids were inversely associated with RBP4, hsCRP, MCP1 and TNF-alpha among middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults.

Keywords: antioxidant; carotenoids; inflammatory marker; retinol binding protein 4.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Chromatograms of serum carotenoids.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Feghali C.A., Wright T.M. Cytokines in acute and chronic inflammation. Front. Biosci. 1997;2:12–26. - PubMed
    1. Abraham G., Sundaram V., Sundaram V., Mathew M., Leslie N., Sathiah V. C-Reactive protein, a valuable predictive marker in chronic kidney disease. Saudi J. Kidney Dis. Transplant. 2009;20:811–815. - PubMed
    1. Vermeire S., Van Assche G., Rutgeerts P. C-reactive protein as a marker for inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 2004;10:661–665. doi: 10.1097/00054725-200409000-00026. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hotamisligil G.S. Inflammation and metabolic disorders. Nature. 2006;444:860–867. doi: 10.1038/nature05485. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Libby P. Inflammation in atherosclerosis. Nature. 2002;420:868–874. doi: 10.1038/nature01323. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources