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Plasma fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) as a novel biomarker to predict gestational diabetes mellitus

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Abstract

Aims

Fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) is mainly expressed in adipocytes and macrophages and is demonstrated to be elevated in diabetes patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible role of FABP4 in the diagnosis of GDM and to investigate the relationship between FABP4 and overweight, insulin resistance and inflammatory marker TNF-α.

Methods

A total of 46 women with GDM and 55 age-matched pregnant women without GDM (non-GDM) were eligible for the study. Demographic and biochemical parameters and fasting venous blood samples of two groups were collected from all cases. Serum concentrations of FABP4 were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The predictive value of Serum FABP4 level was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) analysis.

Results

We found that the serum FABP4 levels were significantly higher in GDM compared to the non-GDM group. The area under the ROC curve assay yielded a satisfactory result of 0.94 (95 % confidence interval 0.90–0.98; p < 0.001). The best compromise between 86.96 % specificity and 89.09 % sensitivity was obtained with a cutoff value of 1.96 ng/mL for GDM diagnosis. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was observed between FABP4 and overweight, insulin resistance and TNF-α in pregnant women with GDM.

Conclusions

These results suggest that serum FABP4 may potentially serve as a novel biomarker for the prediction of GDM.

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Change history

  • 18 July 2018

    The title “Plasma fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) as a novel biomarker to predict gestational diabetes mellitus” should be replaced by “Serum fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) as a novel biomarker to predict gestational diabetes mellitus”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, China

    Hui Ning & Xingbo Zhao

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, 266000, Shandong, China

    Hui Ning, Hong Tao & Zhanping Weng

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  1. Hui Ning
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  2. Hong Tao
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Correspondence to Xingbo Zhao.

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All procedures performed in this study 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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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Declaration of Helsinki 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

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Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Ning, H., Tao, H., Weng, Z. et al. Plasma fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) as a novel biomarker to predict gestational diabetes mellitus. Acta Diabetol 53, 891–898 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-016-0867-8

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