Association between circulating irisin levels and the promotion of insulin resistance during the weight maintenance period after a dietary weight-lowering program in obese patients

Abstract

Objective. Weight regain is associated with the promotion of insulin resistance. The newly discovered myokine irisin, which was proposed to be involved in the management of insulin sensitivity, could play a role in this process. This study aimed to investigate the association between irisin and reduced insulin sensitivity induced by weight regain.Materials/Methods. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated according to the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in 136 obese patients who followed an eight-week hypocaloric diet (30% reduced energy expenditure) to lose weight and were reevaluated four or six months after treatment. Irisin plasma levels, as well as the levels of leptin, adiponectin, ghrelin and TNF-α, were quantified in a sub-cohort (n=73) from the initially studied patients at baseline (T0), at the diet endpoint (T1) and after the follow-up period (T2).Results. After a successful dietary intervention to lose weight, 50% of the patients who regained the lost weight during the follow-up period were categorized as insulin resistant (HOMA-IR≥2.5) compared with only 25% of patients who maintained the weight loss (p=0.018). Importantly, in addition to the well-studied hormones leptin and adiponectin, irisin plasma levels were statistically associated with several risk factors for insulin resistance.Indeed, the increased risk of insulin resistance during the follow-up period was related to high irisin levels at baseline (odds ratio=4.2; p=0.039).Conclusions. Circulating irisin predicts the insulin resistance onset in association with weight regain. Therefore, irisin could be secreted as an adaptive response to counteract the deleterious effect of excess adiposity on glucose homeostasis.

Irisin is a biomarker for metabolic syndrome in prepubertal children

“…Studies have reported that irisin is related to BMI; however, irisin was not significantly correlated with BMI in other studies [23,24]. The circulating irisin levels have been shown to be negatively correlated with BMI [25][26][27], whereas some reports suggested that irisin concentrations were positively associated with BMI [20,28]. Moreover, although a few studies have demonstrated that there is no direct relationship between irisin and BMI, their results support the hypothesis of a positive correlation between irisin and BMI.…”

“…There is a possibility that irisin may be a surrogate marker for MetS. Most studies in adults showed that levels of irisin were linked to the incidence of T2DM [7], insulin resistance [19,20], and dyslipidemia [21], which are components of MetS. However, there were discrepancies reporting the relationship between irisin and metabolic diseases.…”

Increased FNDC5 is associated with insulin resistance in high fat-fed mice

“…found that individuals who regain weight after initial weight loss had increased irisin levels corresponding with increased bodyweight, fat mass, fasting glucose, insulin, and HOMA‐IR compared to those maintaining a normal weight (Crujeiras et al. 2014). …”

Dopamine gene methylation patterns are associated with obesity markers and carbohydrate intake

“…Plasma concentrations of insulin (Mercodia, Uppsala, Sweden) were measured using specific enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays and assessed by means of an automated analyzer system (Triturus, Grifols, Barcelona, Spain). Insulin resistance was estimated by the homeostatic model assessment‐insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) index according to the following formula: (fasting insulin (mU/L) × plasma glucose (mmol/L)/22.5) as previously reported (Crujeiras et al., 2014). Triglyceride‐glucose (TyG) index was calculated as: (ln [fasting triglycerides (mg/dl) × fasting plasma glucose (mg/dl)/2]) as described elsewhere (Navarro‐González, Sánchez‐Íñigo, Pastrana‐Delgado, Fernández‐Montero, & Martinez, 2016).…”