Serum Spexin is Correlated with Lipoprotein(a) and Androgens in Female Adolescents

Flora Bacopoulou; Despoina Apostolaki; Aimilia Mantzou; Artemis Doulgeraki; Artur Pałasz; Pantelis Tsimaris; Eleni Koniari; Vasiliki Efthymiou

doi:10.3390/jcm8122103

Serum Spexin is Correlated with Lipoprotein(a) and Androgens in Female Adolescents

J Clin Med. 2019 Dec 2;8(12):2103. doi: 10.3390/jcm8122103.

Authors

Flora Bacopoulou^{1

2}, Despoina Apostolaki¹, Aimilia Mantzou², Artemis Doulgeraki³, Artur Pałasz⁴, Pantelis Tsimaris⁵, Eleni Koniari², Vasiliki Efthymiou¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, 1 Thivon Street, Goudi, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
² Unit of Clinical and Translational Research in Endocrinology, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 1 Thivon Street, Goudi, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
³ Department of Bone and Mineral Metabolism, Institute of Child Health, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, 1 Thivon Street, Goudi, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
⁴ Department of Histology, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, ul. Medykow 18, 40-752 Katowice, Poland.
⁵ Division of Pediatric-Adolescent Gynecology and Reconstructive Surgery, Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aretaieio Hospital, 76 Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, 115 28 Athens, Greece.

Abstract

The Spexin gene is considered the most dysregulated in obese human fat. Limited data suggest that the novel peptide spexin may potentially impact food intake, weight regulation and body adiposity. The aim of this case-control study was to compare fasting serum spexin concentrations between normal weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OB/OW) adolescent females and explore the relationship between circulating spexin and anthropometric, bone and fat mass, metabolic and hormonal parameters. Eighty post-menarcheal females (mean age ± SD 16.23 ± 2.26 years); 55 NW (mean BMI ± SD 19.72 ± 2.52 kg/m²) and 25 OB/OW (mean BMI ± SD 29.35 ± 3.89 kg/m²) participated in the study. Circulating spexin levels did not differ significantly (p = 0.378) between NW (median (interquartile range), 0.26 (0.17) ng/mL) and OB/OW (median (interquartile range), 0.28 (0.06) ng/mL) adolescents and did not correlate with BMI (r_s = -0.090, p = 0.438), % body fat (r_s = -0.173, p = 0.409), glucose or insulin resistance indices derived from fasting and oral glucose tolerance states. In the total study sample, spexin concentrations correlated positively with lipoprotein(a) (r_s = 0.402, p = 0.046). In the OB/OW adolescents spexin levels correlated positively with testosterone (r_s = 0.727, p = 0.011) and free androgen index (r_s = 0.755, p = 0.007). In the NW adolescents, spexin concentrations correlated negatively with dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (r_s = -0.445, p = 0.038). Results may suggest potential involvement of spexin in the regulation of lipoprotein(a) and of the reproductive/adrenal axis in post-menarcheal adolescent females.

Keywords: DHEAS; adolescents; androgens; fat mass; free androgen index; lipoprotein(a); obesity; overweight; spexin; testosterone.