Circulating levels of Elabela and Apelin in the second and third trimesters of pregnancies with gestational diabetes mellitus

Abstract

We design this study to detect levels of Elabela (ELA) and Apelin (APLN) in women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the second and third trimesters, and to identify whether there is any association between ELA, APLN, and metabolic parameters. Seventy-nine GDM and 80 control subjects in the second trimester and 87 GDM and 88 healthy subjects in the third trimester were included. In the second trimester, lower ELA levels [(14.1 versus 16.9) ng/ml, p = .025] and higher APLN levels [(1021.8 versus 923.5) pg/ml, p = .046] were observed in GDM patients compared to controls. ELA levels were positively correlated with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (r = 0.423, p < .001) in the control group, and APLN levels were negatively correlated with triglycerides (TG) (r = −0.251, p = .025) in the control group and total cholesterol (TC) (r = −0.227, p = .044) in the GDM group. ELA appeared to be related to glucose metabolism and APLN is involved in lipid metabolism during pregnancy. The expression of ELA is significantly downregulated from the second trimester to the third trimester.

Chinese abstract

我们设计此项研究来检测妊娠期糖尿病（GDM）女性和非妊娠期糖尿病女性在妊娠中期和晚期的Elabela（ELA）和Apelin（APLN）水平, 并确定ELA、APLN和代谢参数之间是否有任何关联。妊娠中期GDM 79例, 健康对照组80例；妊娠晚期GDM 87例, 健康对照组88例。妊娠中期, GDM组与对照组相比, 其ELA水平较低[（14.1 vs 16.9）ng/ml, p=0.025], APLN水平[（1021.8 vs 923.5）pg/ml, p=0.046]明显升高。对照组ELA水平与空腹血糖（FPG）呈正相关（r=0.423, p<0.001）, 对照组APLN水平与甘油三酯（TG）（r=-0.251, p=0.025）呈负相关、GDM组APLN水平与总胆固醇（TC）呈负相关（r=-0.227, p=0.044）。ELA似乎与糖代谢有关, 而APLN则与妊娠期脂代谢有关。从中期到晚期, ELA的表达明显下调。

Keywords:

• Gestational diabetes mellitus
• Elabela
• Apelin
• glucose metabolism
• lipid metabolism

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the patients who participated in our study.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital.

Informed consent

We obtained informed consent from each participant prior to enrollment.

Authors’ contributions

Conception or design: X.M.L. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Y.Y.G, T.L, H.L, L.T, Y.C.L, H.T.H, Y.F.S, Y.Y.W, Y.L, C.L. Drafting the work or revising: Y.Y.G, T.L. Final approval of the manuscript: Y.Y.G, T.L, X.M.L, L.J, H.H.F.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was sponsored by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFC1001303, 2018YFC1004500], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81671456, 81801409], the Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81490742], the International Cooperation Project of China and Canada NSFC [81661128010], the Shen Kang Three Year Action plan [16CR3003A], the Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (YG2017QN41), and Shanghai Sailing Program [18YF1424700].