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. 2022 Aug 24;22(1):212.
doi: 10.1186/s12902-022-01130-3.

Metabolic signatures of insulin resistance in non-diabetic individuals

Babak Arjmand  1   2 , Saeed Ebrahimi Fana  3 , Erfan Ghasemi  4 , Ameneh Kazemi  4 , Robabeh Ghodssi-Ghassemabadi  5 , Hojat Dehghanbanadaki  2 , Niloufar Najjar  6 , Ardeshir Kakaii  7 , Katayoon Forouzanfar  6 , Ensieh Nasli-Esfahani  2 , Farshad Farzadfar  4   8 , Bagher Larijani  8 , Farideh Razi  9
Affiliations

Metabolic signatures of insulin resistance in non-diabetic individuals

Babak Arjmand et al. BMC Endocr Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) evolved from excessive energy intake and poor energy expenditure, affecting the patient's quality of life. Amino acid and acylcarnitine metabolomic profiles have identified consistent patterns associated with metabolic disease and insulin sensitivity. Here, we have measured a wide array of metabolites (30 acylcarnitines and 20 amino acids) with the MS/MS and investigated the association of metabolic profile with insulin resistance.

Methods: The study population (n = 403) was randomly chosen from non-diabetic participants of the Surveillance of Risk Factors of NCDs in Iran Study (STEPS 2016). STEPS 2016 is a population-based cross-sectional study conducted periodically on adults aged 18-75 years in 30 provinces of Iran. Participants were divided into two groups according to the optimal cut-off point determined by the Youden index of HOMA-IR for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Associations were investigated using regression models adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI).

Results: People with high IR were significantly younger, and had higher education level, BMI, waist circumference, FPG, HbA1c, ALT, triglyceride, cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, uric acid, and a lower HDL-C level. We observed a strong positive association of serum BCAA (valine and leucine), AAA (tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine), alanine, and C0 (free carnitine) with IR (HOMA-IR); while C18:1 (oleoyl L-carnitine) was inversely correlated with IR.

Conclusions: In the present study, we identified specific metabolites linked to HOMA-IR that improved IR prediction. In summary, our study adds more evidence that a particular metabolomic profile perturbation is associated with metabolic disease and reemphasizes the significance of understanding the biochemistry and physiology which lead to these associations.

Keywords: Acylcarnitine; Amino acids; HOMA-IR; Insulin resistance; Insulin sensitivity; Metabolomics; Plasma metabolite.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Collorogram of metabolites concentration correlation
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Association of components and HOMA-IR adjusted for age, sex, and BMI
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Association of insulin resistance with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and metabolomic perturbation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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