Plasma Asprosin Concentrations are Associated with Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease

Figures & data

Table 1 Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Study Participants

	DM	Pre-DKD	DKD
Sex (M/F)	22 (8/14)	20 (10/10)	40 (21/19)
Age (years)	49.23±13.99	54.35±10.98	57.48±15.74^a
BMI (kg/m^2)	23.36±3.32	25.65±2.75	23.84±4.82
WC (cm)	83.30±10.06	91.68±6.39	108.23±94.65
HC (cm)	95.32±6.84	98.75±4.39	101.02±10.44^a
WHR	0.87±0.06	0.92±0.06	1.09±1.07
SBP (mmHg)	122.60±16.07	134.80±16.99	139.75±23.87^b
DBP (mmHg)	79.35±11	86±9.51	83.45±14.27
Cr (μmol/L)	56.85±10.51	102.35±6.16^b	140.70±69.87^bd
UACr (mg/mmol)	14.10±7.88	61.40±12.48^a	396.15±96.14^bd
eGFR (mL/min/1.73 m^2)	110.67±10.52	76.07±3.70^b	51.84±17.21^bd
TC (mmol/L)	4.87±1.02	4.56±0.97	5.23±1.02^c
TG (mmol/L)	1.28±0.60	1.57±0.65	3.65±3.35^bd
HDL-c (mmol/L)	1.50±0.55	1.27±0.26	1.19±0.35^b
LDL-c (mmol/L)	2.86±0.99	2.74±0.75	2.93±0.91
HbA1c (%), mmol/mol	7.7±0.3/61	7.0±1.6/53	8.5±2.1/69^d
FPG (mmol/L)	8.11±0.37	8.32±1.52	8.55±3.03^bc
FIns (mU/L)	11.92±5.21	13.35±3.19^b	15.95±4.47^bc
HOMA-IR	4.30±0.95	5.04±2.08	6.06±2.72^b
IL6 (pg/mL)	2.08±0.26	2.29±0.30^a	2.70±0.28^bd
TNFα (pg/mL)	8.96±0.75	10.78±1.46^a	11.89±2.30^b

Notes: Data presented as means ± SD. ^aP<0.05 compared with DM; ^bP<0.01 compared with DM; ^cP<0.05 compared with pre-DKD; ^dP<0.01 compared with pre-DKD.

Abbreviations: DM, diabetic mellitus; pre-DKD, early stage of diabetic kidney disease; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; HC, hip circumference; WHR, waist:hip ratio; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; Cr, creatinine; UACr, urinary albumin:creatinine ratio; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; HDL-c, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-c, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; FIns, fasting serum insulin; HOMA-IR, Homeostasis Model Assessment for insulin resistance.

Figure 1 Scatterplots of plasma asprosin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) concentrations in healthy, pre-DKD, and DKD patients. Asprosin (A) and G3P (B) concentrations in human plasma samples from indicated group. Each data point represents a plasma sample, the horizontal middle line in each data set represents the mean, and the limits of the vertical lines represent the SD. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test was performed for multiple comparisons. ***P<0.001, **P<0.01.

Figure 2 Expression of asprosin in kidney tissue from DKD mouse models. (A) mRNA expression of asprosin in glomeruli and tubulointerstitial tissue. mRNA expression of asprosin in kidney from Stz-induced diabetic (B) and db/db mice (C). Data shown as means and SD, n=6 mice per group. ***P<0.001, **P<0.01.

Table 2 Spearman Correlation Coefficients of Variables Associated with Circulating Concentration

	Plasma asprosin		Plasma asprosin (age-adjusted)
	R	P	R	P
Age	0.234	0.034	—	—
Sex	−0.190	0.087	−0.199	0.148
BMI	−0.007	0.948	0.127	0.360
WC	0.365	0.001	0.203	0.141
HC	0.187	0.093	0.012	0.932
WHR	0.347	0.001	0.329	0.015
SBP	0.278	0.012	0.112	0.421
DBP	0.152	0.179	0.110	0.431
Cr	0.597	<0.001	0.751	<0.001
UACr	0.686	<0.001	0.502	<0.001
eGFR	−0.615	<0.001	−0.759	<0.001
TC	0.074	0.509	−0.043	0.758
TG	0.305	0.005	0.119	0.390
HDL-c	−0.293	0.008	−0.035	0.799
LDL-c	−0.008	0.944	0.011	0.939
HbA1c	0.094	0.408	0.136	0.326
FPG	0.121	0.279	0.014	0.917
FIns	0.490	<0.001	0.505	<0.001
HOMA-IR	0.447	<0.001	0.511	<0.001
G3P	0.663	<0.001	0.524	<0.001

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; HC, hip circumference; WHR, waist hip ratio; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; Cr, creatinine; UACr, urinary albumin:Cr ratio, eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; HDL-c, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-c, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; FIns, fasting serum insulin; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance; G3P, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

Figure 3 Scatterplots showing correlations of plasma asprosin levels with Cr, UACr, and eGFR in all subjects. (A) Correlation of plasma asprosin levels with Cr. (B) Correlation of plasma asprosin levels with UACr. (C) Correlation of plasma asprosin levels with eGFR.

Abbreviations: Cr, creatinine; UACr, urinary albumin:Cr ratio; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate.