Biomarkers of insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance: Past, present and future

Abstract

Insulin resistance in insulin target tissues including liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue is an early step in the progression towards type 2 diabetes. Accurate diagnostic parameters reflective of insulin resistance are essential. Longstanding tests for fasting blood glucose and HbA1c are useful and although the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp remains a “gold standard” for accurately determining insulin resistance, it cannot be implemented on a routine basis. The study of adipokines, and more recently myokines and hepatokines, as potential biomarkers for insulin sensitivity is now an attractive and relatively straightforward approach. This review discusses potential biomarkers including adiponectin, RBP4, chemerin, A-FABP, FGF21, fetuin-A, myostatin, IL-6, and irisin, all of which may play significant roles in determining insulin sensitivity. We also review potential future directions of new biological markers for measuring insulin resistance, including metabolomics and gut microbiome. Collectively, these approaches will provide clinicians with the tools for more accurate, and perhaps personalized, diagnosis of insulin resistance.

• Adipokine
• biomarker
• hepatokine
• insulin resistance
• microbiota
• myokine
• metabolomics

Acknowledgements

Support via a Career Investigator award to G. S. from Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario is acknowledged.

Declaration of interest

Related work in the authors’ laboratory is supported by the Canadian Diabetes Association, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (G. S.). The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

This work was also supported by Samsung Biomedical Research Institute Grant to CYP.