Recent studies have suggested a relationship of the increased circulating adipokines and inflammatory cytokine, and the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The objective of this study was to identify adiposity-related factors that reflect MetS in order to establish early intervention targets. We performed a cross-sectional study which included 108 MetS subjects and 91 controls. Blood adiponectin, leptin, vascular-, and intercellular adhension molecules (VCAM, ICAM), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), oxidized LDL (oxLDL), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured. The correlation analysis indicated that the MetS score (sum of the number of MetS risk factors) had an inverse relationship with adiponectin (p < 0.0001), and positive correlations with leptin (p < 0.05), ICAM (p < 0.01), MCP1 (p < 0.05), oxLDL (p < 0.05), TNF-α (p < 0.0001), IL-6 (p < 0.05) and hsCRP (p < 0.01). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, plasma triglyceride (TG) was independently associated with adiponectin, ICAM and TNF-α with the standardized β coefficients of -0.213, 0.197, and 0.193, respectively. Plasma HDL-cholesterol was independently associated with ICAM and hsCRP with the standardized β coefficients of -0.150 and -0.173. Adiponectin, TNF-α, and hsCRP were the most proximate markers reflecting MetS. Among MetS components, TG and HDL-cholesterol concentrations displayed the relationship with inflammatory markers measured in this study.
Keywords: Abdominal fat; Adipokines; Adiposity; Inflammatory cytokines; Metabolic syndrome.