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Relationship of galectin-3 with obesity, IL-6, and CRP in women

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the association of galectin-3 (Gal3) with obesity and inflammatory status in a cohort of metabolically healthy, predominantly African-American women with varying cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk as determined by CRP levels.

Methods

We assessed the association between BMI and serum levels of Gal3, IL-6, CRP, and adiponectin in metabolically healthy women (N = 97) to determine the overall association between Gal3, obesity, and inflammation in groups at different CVD risk.

Results

Obese women had significantly higher serum Gal3 compared to non-obese participants (P = 0.0016), although Gal3 levels were comparable among different classes of obesity. BMI (R 2 = 0.1406, P = 0.0013), IL-6 (R 2 = 0.0689, P = 0.035), and CRP (R 2 = 0.0468, P = 0.0419), but not adiponectin, positively predicted the variance of Gal3 levels in the total study population. However, the predicting effect of BMI (R 2 = 0.2923, P = 0.0125) and inflammation (R 2 = 0.3138, P = 0.038) on Gal3 was only present in women at low/moderate risk of CVD (CRP ≤ 3 µg/mL).

Conclusions

Gal3 is positively correlated with obesity and inflammation in women, while the presence of elevated CVD risk may disturb the strength of Gal3 as a biomarker of inflammation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 W Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    J. Pang, V. T. Nguyen, D. H. Rhodes, M. E. Sullivan, C. Braunschweig & G. Fantuzzi

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  1. J. Pang
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  2. V. T. Nguyen
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  3. D. H. Rhodes
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  4. M. E. Sullivan
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  5. C. Braunschweig
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  6. G. Fantuzzi
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Correspondence to G. Fantuzzi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants according to approved IRB protocols.

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Pang, J., Nguyen, V.T., Rhodes, D.H. et al. Relationship of galectin-3 with obesity, IL-6, and CRP in women. J Endocrinol Invest 39, 1435–1443 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0515-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0515-8

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