Serum adipocyte fatty acid binding protein as a new biomarker predicting the development of type 2 diabetes - a 10-year prospective study in Chinese

Abstract

Objective Adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) is abundantly expressed in adipocytes and plays a role in glucose homeostasis in experimental animals. We have previously shown that circulating A-FABP levels are associated with the metabolic syndrome, which confers an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (DM). Here we investigated whether serum A-FABP levels could predict the development of DM in a 10-year prospective study.

Research Design and Methods Baseline serum A-FABP levels were measured with ELISA in 544 non-diabetic subjects, recruited from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study cohort, who were followed prospectively to assess the development of DM. The role of A-FABP in predicting the development of DM over 10 years was investigated using Cox regression analysis.

Results At baseline, serum sex-adjusted A-FABP levels were higher in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose (IGT/IFG) (p<0.00001 versus normal glucose tolerance) and correlated positively with adverse cardio-metabolic risk factors. Over 10 years, 96 subjects had developed DM. High baseline A-FABP was predictive of DM, independent of obesity, insulin resistance or glycemic indices (RR 2.25, 95%CI 1.40-3.65; p=0.001; above versus below sex-specific median). High A-FABP remained an independent predictor of DM in the high-risk IGT/IFG subgroup (adjusted RR 1.87, 95%CI 1.12-3.15, p=0.018).

Conclusions Serum A-FABP was associated with glucose dysregulation and predicted the development of DM in Chinese.