Chemerin and prediction of Diabetes mellitus type 2.

OBJECTIVE: Insulin resistance and subclinical inflammation are characteristics in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The adipokine chemerin has been associated with both factors. The aim of this study was to analyse whether chemerin predicts T2DM.

DESIGN: Blood samples of 440 participants of the Metabolic-Syndrome Berlin-Potsdam (MesyBepo) follow-up study without diabetes at baseline were available for chemerin measurement. Mean follow-up of participants was 5·3 years. Glucose metabolism was analysed using oral glucose tolerance test including insulin measurements. Chemerin was measured using a commercially available ELISA.

RESULTS: Thirty-five individuals developed T2DM during follow-up. Chemerin predicted incident T2DM (Chemerin 1. Tertile: reference, 2. Tertile: OR 2·33 [0·68-7·95]; Chemerin 3. Tertile: OR 3·42 [1·01-11·58] after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, follow-up time, HbA1c, HOMA-IR and WHR). In a secondary analysis, chemerin also predicted worsening of fasting glucose and HbA1c (adjusted for age, sex, BMI, time of follow-up, WHR, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides).

CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that chemerin is a weak predictor of T2DM.