Apparent Sex-Specific Divergence of Acylation Stimulating Protein Levels With Respect to Metabolic Parameters of Pathogenetic and Clinical Relevance

Abstract

Background: Acylation stimulating protein (ASP) is an adipose tissue-derived hormone that regulates triglyceride (TG) synthesis and glucose transport. Associations of ASP and/or its precursor complement C3 have been demonstrated with obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. We determined fasting serum ASP in a Turkish adult population sample and assessed relationships with cardiometabolic risk factors.

Methods: Cross-sectional population-based study recruiting 224 men and women from the Turkish Adult Risk Factor (TARF) study.

Results: Geometric Mean ASP levels (median) in women (271 nmol/L) tended to be lower than men (305 nmol/L) (P = 0.059), and this was also true in most subgroups with vs. without cardiometabolic disorders. Interestingly, correlations of ASP diverged in direction across genders with TG, glucose, height, age and other risk variables.

Conclusion: Gender divergence is an aspect of this Turkish population that has been noted for various lipid parameters (HDL, Lp(a)), association of cardiometabolic risk with smoking and alcohol intake and the response of the pro-inflammatory state to adiposity. This is consistent in the present study, where metabolic states correlate with ASP, but are divergent between genders.

J Endocrinol Metab. 2012;2(1):1-10
doi: https://doi.org/10.4021/jem58w