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. 2022 May 18;12(1):8331.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11942-x.

Ciliary neurotrophic factor is increased in the plasma of patients with obesity and its levels correlate with diabetes and inflammation indices

Jessica Perugini  1 , Eleonora Di Mercurio  1 , Angelica Giuliani  2 , Jacopo Sabbatinelli  2   3 , Anna Rita Bonfigli  4 , Elena Tortato  5 , Ilenia Severi  1 , Saverio Cinti  1   6 , Fabiola Olivieri  2   7 , Carel W le Roux  8 , Rosaria Gesuita  9 , Antonio Giordano  10   11
Affiliations

Ciliary neurotrophic factor is increased in the plasma of patients with obesity and its levels correlate with diabetes and inflammation indices

Jessica Perugini et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

To establish whether obesity involves activation of endogenous ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) signalling, we evaluated its plasma levels in patients with obesity and correlated its values with the major clinical and haematological indices of obesity, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. This study involved 118 subjects: 39 healthy controls (19 men), 39 subjects with obesity (19 men) and 40 subjects with obesity and diabetes (20 men). Plasma CNTF and CNTF receptor α (CNTFRα) were measured using commercial ELISA kits. The results showed that plasma CNTF was significantly higher in males and females with obesity with and without diabetes than in healthy subjects. Women consistently exhibited higher levels of circulating CNTF. In both genders, CNTF levels correlated significantly and positively with obesity (BMI, WHR, leptin), diabetes (fasting insulin, HOMA index and HbA1c) and inflammation (IL-6 and hsCRP) indices. Circulating CNTFRα and the CNTF/CNTFRα molar ratio tended to be higher in the patient groups than in controls. In conclusion, endogenous CNTF signalling is activated in human obesity and may help counteract some adverse effects of obesity. Studies involving a higher number of selected patients may reveal circulating CNTF and/or CNTFRα as potential novel diagnostic and/or prognostic markers of obesity, diabetes and associated diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of plasma CNTF levels according to participants’ health condition (A) and health condition and gender (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation between plasma CNTF levels and clinical or haematological parameters of obesity, insulin resistance and inflammation in female subjects. Spearman correlation coefficients and 95% CI.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation between plasma CNTF levels and clinical or haematological parameters of obesity, insulin resistance and inflammation in male subjects. Spearman correlation coefficients and 95% CI.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Plasma CNTFRα level distribution according to health condition (A) and health condition and gender (B). CNTF/CNTFRα molar ratio distribution according to health condition (C) and health condition and gender (D).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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