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. 2018 Apr 3;2(5):409-419.
doi: 10.1210/js.2018-00020. eCollection 2018 May 1.

Circulating Spexin Levels Negatively Correlate With Age, BMI, Fasting Glucose, and Triglycerides in Healthy Adult Women

Cheng-Yuan Lin  1   2   3 , Tao Huang  1   2 , Ling Zhao  1   2 , Linda L D Zhong  1   2 , Wai Ching Lam  1   2 , Bao-Min Fan  3 , Zhao-Xiang Bian  1   2
Affiliations

Circulating Spexin Levels Negatively Correlate With Age, BMI, Fasting Glucose, and Triglycerides in Healthy Adult Women

Cheng-Yuan Lin et al. J Endocr Soc. .

Abstract

Context: Spexin is a newly identified neuropeptide that is involved in satiety control, glucose, and lipids metabolism. It has also been related to human diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, whether spexin changes with age or not is still unclear.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between circulating spexin levels and age and to study their interaction effects on body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose, and -lipids.

Design and participants: This is a cross-sectional study, including 68 healthy adult women whose ages are in a wide range (minimum: 23; median: 38.5; maximum: 64).

Outcome measures: The serum spexin levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Fasting glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, urea, and creatinine were measured by routine biochemical test. Shapiro-Wilk's test, Spearman and Pearson correlation analyses, χ2 test, and two-way analysis of variance were used to interpret the data.

Results: Serum spexin levels are significantly correlated with age (Spearman r = -0.277, P = 0.022), BMI (Spearman r = -0.445, P < 0.001), fasting glucose (Spearman r = -0.302, P = 0.014), and TG (Spearman r = -0.324, P = 0.008). Spexin levels independently predict the risk of high BMI and high fasting glucose. No interaction effects of spexin and age on BMI and fasting glucose were found.

Conclusions: Circulating spexin levels decrease with age, suggesting a possible role of this peptide in aging-related functions and disorders. Further investigations are needed to expand the clinical significance of this finding.

Keywords: age; body mass index; fasting glucose; healthy adult women; spexin; triglycerides.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The correlations between spexin (SPX) and (a) age, (b) BMI, (c) fasting glucose, and (d) TG. For each pair of variables, linear regression was performed, and the best-fit equation was presented. The linear fitting equation is shown as Y = a*X + b, where independent variable X is Age, BMI, Glucose, and TG, while dependent variable Y is SPX. The Spearman ranking correlation coefficient (r) and associated statistical significance were also shown: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The (a) BMI, (b) fasting glucose, and (c) TG of subjects grouped by age quantiles and spexin (SPX) tertiles. The quantiles of age (in years) are Q1 (23, 30), Q2 (30, 38), Q3 (39, 48), and Q4 (48, 64). The tertiles of spexin (in nanograms per milliliter) are T1 (0.092, 0.181), T2 (0.182, 0.209), and T3 (0.210, 0.535).
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