Angiopoietin-Like 8 in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Reduced Levels in Third Trimester Maternal Serum and Placenta, Increased Levels in Cord Blood Serum

Junhua Yuan; Di Zhang; Yunyang Wang; Zhen Zhu; Qian Lin; Manwen Li; Weizhen Zhong; Jing Han; Fengsen Xu; Jing Dong

doi:10.1155/2022/1113811

Angiopoietin-Like 8 in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Reduced Levels in Third Trimester Maternal Serum and Placenta, Increased Levels in Cord Blood Serum

Int J Endocrinol. 2022 Apr 26:2022:1113811. doi: 10.1155/2022/1113811. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Junhua Yuan¹, Di Zhang², Yunyang Wang³, Zhen Zhu⁴, Qian Lin¹, Manwen Li¹, Weizhen Zhong⁵, Jing Han¹, Fengsen Xu⁶, Jing Dong^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Special Medicine Department, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingado, China.
² Shandong Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Novel Pharmaceutical Excipients, Sustained and Controlled Release Preparations, College of Medicine and Nursing, Dezhou University, Shandong, China.
³ Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingado, China.
⁴ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The First People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, China.
⁵ Human functional laboratory, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingado, China.
⁶ Department of Obstetrics, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingado, China.
⁷ Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingado, China.

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) poses a significant health risk to pregnant women, and thus exploring the potential underlying mechanism is highly desirable. The aim of the study was to compare maternal serum, cord blood serum, and placental angiopoietin-like 8 (ANGPTL8) levels in the third trimester of pregnancy in women with and without gestational diabetes and explore the potential underlying mechanism. A total of 42 pregnant women (23 with GDM and 19 with normal glucose tolerance (NGT)) along with 29 age-matched non-pregnant healthy females were enrolled. All pregnant subjects were in the late third trimester. Maternal serum and cord blood serum ANGPTL8 levels were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the protein levels of ANGPTL8 in placentas were assessed with western blotting. The associations between maternal serum and cord blood serum ANGPTL8 levels and metabolic parameters were investigated with the Spearman correlation analysis. Significantly lower levels of maternal serum and placental ANGPTL8 levels were observed in GDM patients compared to NGT pregnant women, while remarkably higher ANGPTL8 levels were present in the cord blood serum samples. The maternal serum ANGPTL8 level was positively correlated with BMI, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and AUC for OGTT and birthweight. Additionally, the cord blood serum ANGPTL8 level was positively correlated with insulin and the homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance. Both maternal serum and cord blood serum ANGPTL8 levels seemed to correlate with GDM and has the potential to be used as a biomarker for GDM and birthweight prediction.