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Expression of ICAM-1 and E-selectin in different metabolic obesity phenotypes: discrepancy for endothelial dysfunction

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Abstract

Objectives

Endothelial dysfunction, the earliest vascular alteration, is a consequence of metabolic disorders associated with obesity. However, it is still unclear whether a proportion of obese individuals without metabolic alterations associated with obesity, defined as “metabolically healthy obesity (MHO)”, exhibit better endothelial function. We therefore aimed to investigate the association of different metabolic obesity phenotypes with endothelial dysfunction.

Methods

The obese participants without clinical cardiovascular disease from the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) were allocated to the different metabolic obesity phenotypes based on their metabolic status, including MHO and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO). Associations of metabolic obesity phenotypes with the biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, including soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), were evaluated using multiple linear regression models.

Results

Plasma levels of sICAM-1 and sE-selectin were respectively measured in 2371 and 968 participants. Compared to the non-obese participants, those with MUO were associated with higher concentrations of sICAM-1 (β 22.04, 95% CI 14.33–29.75, P < 0.001) and sE-selectin (β 9.87, 95% CI 6.00–13.75, P < 0.001) after adjusting for confounders. However, no differences were found for the concentrations of sICAM-1 (β 0.70, 95% CI − 8.91 to 10.32, P = 0.886) and sE-selectin (β 3.69, 95% CI − 1.13 to 8.51, P = 0.133) in the participants with MHO compared to the non-obese participants.

Conclusions

Individuals with MUO were associated with elevated biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, but the association with endothelial dysfunction was not found in those with MHO, indicating that the individuals with MHO might exhibit better endothelial function.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the other investigators, the staff, and the participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions. A full list of participating MESA investigators and institutions can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org.

Funding

The MESA study used in this analysis was supported by contracts HHSN268201500003I, N01-HC-95159, N01-HC-95160, N01-HC-95161, N01-HC-95162, N01-HC-95163, N01-HC-95164, N01-HC-95165, N01-HC-95166, N01-HC-95167, N01-HC-95168, and N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and by grants UL1-TR-000040, UL1-TR-001079, and UL1-TR-001420 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). This study was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870195, 82070384 to X.Liao; 81900329 to Y.Guo), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515011668 to X.Liao; 2019A1515011098, 2022A1515010416 to Y.Guo; 2022A1515111181 to ML) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M723635 to ML).

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Author notes

  1. M. Liu and P. Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan 2nd Rd., Guangzhou, 510080, China

    M. Liu, P. Wang, P. Xie, X. Xu, L. He, S. Zhang, Y. Lin, Y. Huang, L. Wang, X. Liao, Y. Guo & X. Zhuang

  2. NHC Key Laboratory of Assisted Circulation (Sun Yat-Sen University), Guangzhou, China

    M. Liu, P. Wang, P. Xie, X. Xu, L. He, S. Zhang, Y. Lin, Y. Huang, L. Wang, X. Liao, Y. Guo & X. Zhuang

  3. The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    X. Chen

  4. Department of Hypertension and Vascular Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    W. Xia

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Contributions

The study was designed by ML with contributions from PW, YG, and XZ. ML, PW, PX, XX, LH, XC, SZ, YL, and YH: participated in data cleaning. PX, XX, LH, and XC: were responsible for data analysis. WX, LW, and XL: were responsible for data interpretation. ML and PW: wrote the original draft. YG and XZ: verified the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Y. Guo or X. Zhuang.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the corresponding Institutional Ethics Committee.

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All participants gave informed consent to the use of their records for research purpose.

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Liu, M., Wang, P., Xie, P. et al. Expression of ICAM-1 and E-selectin in different metabolic obesity phenotypes: discrepancy for endothelial dysfunction. J Endocrinol Invest 46, 2379–2389 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02094-4

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