Circulating levels of IL-33 are elevated by obesity and positively correlated with metabolic disorders in Chinese adults

Journal of Translational Medicine

Meilian Liu¹  Haoneng Tang²  Siqi Zhuang²  Yufeng Dai²  Xiaojing Feng²  Yiyuan Fang²  Lingli Tang²  Ning Liu³  Yanyi Yang⁴ 

[1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA;Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, Metabolic Syndrome Research Center, Key Laboratory of Diabetes Immunology, Ministry of Education, National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410011, Changsha, China;Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410011, Changsha, China;Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410011, Changsha, China;Medical College, Yueyang Vocational and Technical College, 414000, Yueyang, China;Health Management Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410011, Changsha, China;

关键词: IL-33;    Obesity;    Metabolic phenotype;    Metabolic unhealthy overweight/obese;    Metabolic disorders;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12967-021-02711-x

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundInterleukin-33 (IL-33) plays a pivotal role in regulating innate immune response and metabolic homeostasis. However, whether its circulating level is correlated with obesity and metabolic disorders in humans remains largely unknown. We aimed to address this gap by determining IL-33 serum level and its downstream type 2 inflammatory cytokines interleukin-5 (IL-5) and interleukin-13 (IL-13) in overweight/obese population, and analyzing the specific associations between IL-33 and obesity metabolic phenotypes.Methods217 subjects were enrolled and divided into three groups: healthy control (HC) subjects, metabolically healthy overweight/obese (MHOO) subjects and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese (MUOO) subjects. Circulating levels of IL-33, IL-5 and IL-13 were measured using ELISA analyses. Multivariate regression analyses were further performed to determine the independent association between IL-33 and obesity metabolic phenotypes.ResultsCirculating levels of IL-33 were significantly elevated in subjects of MUOO group compared with HC group and MHOO group, while no significant difference was observed between the latter two groups in IL-33 levels. Consistent with this, serum levels of IL-5/13 were higher in the MUOO group compared with HC and MHOO groups. After adjusted for all confounders, MUOO phenotype was significantly associated with increased IL-33 serum levels (OR = 1.70; 95% CI 1.09–2.64; p = 0.019). With the MHOO group as the reference population, higher circulating level of IL-33 was also positively associated with MUOO phenotype after adjusting for confounders (OR = 1.50; 95% CI 1.20–1.88; p = 2.91E−4). However, there was no significant association between MHOO phenotype and IL-33 levels (p = 0.942). Trend analysis further confirmed the positive correlation between MUOO phenotype and IL-33 level (p for trend = 0.019). Additionally, IL-33 was significantly and positively correlated with diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil and IL-5 only in MUOO group, while inversely correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in MHOO subjects.ConclusionCirculating levels of IL-33 were significantly elevated in overweight/obese Chinese adults with metabolic disorders. Increased levels of IL-33 were positively associated with metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese phenotype and several metabolic syndrome risk factors.

【 授权许可】

CC BY