Background: The incidence of metabolic abnormalities in HIV-infected patients is increasing. Fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP4) is an emerging biomarker for metabolic-related disturbances. We aimed to study FABP4 as a marker of metabolic syndrome (MS) or lipodystrophy (LD) in HIV patients.
Methods: FABP4 plasma concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassays in 183 HIV-infected patients, enrolled as part of a study aimed at identifying predictors of atherosclerosis. The presence of MS or LD was diagnosed according to standard clinical methods. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed.
Results: FABP4 concentration was significantly higher in those patients with either MS or LD criteria than those without any metabolic disturbance. Similarly, FABP4 concentration significantly increased with an increasing of MS features and was strongly correlated with body-mass index, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol concentrations, insulin and blood pressure. Patients in the highest quartile of FABP4 presented a six-fold increased odds ratio for MS and a three-fold increased odds for LD, adjusted by age, sex, body-mass index and the antiretroviral therapy.
Conclusions: FABP4 is a strong plasma marker of metabolic disturbances in HIV-infected patients, and therefore, could serve to guide therapeutic intervention in this group of patients.