Sex-specific correlation of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 with vitamin D status in adults with obesity: a cross-sectional serum proteomics study

Abstract

Objective: subjects with low vitamin D levels are at risk of cardiometabolic disease. The aim of this study was to identify novel serological markers linking vitamin D status with cardiometabolic profile in non-diabetic adults with obesity.

Methods: for the discovery phase, we used quantitative serum proteomics in sex-matched, age-matched and BMI-matched subjects with obesity [BMI: 25–35 kg/m2] and low [25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L] vs. high vitamin D status [25(OH)D > 50 nmol/L] (n = 16). For the validation phase, we performed ELISA in a larger cohort with similar characteristics (n = 179).

Results: we identified 423 and 549 differentially expressed proteins in the high vs. low vitamin D groups of the male and female cohorts, respectively. The small molecule biochemistry protein networks and the glycolysis|gluconeogenesis pathway were significantly enriched in the DEPs of both sexes. As surrogate markers to these processes, the insulin-like growth factor binding protein -2 (IGFBP-2) was upregulated in males, whereas IGFBP-3 was upregulated in females from the high Vitamin D status. This sex-specific trend was confirmed using Luminex ELISA to an independent but clinically analogous cohort of males (n = 84, p = 0.002) and females (n = 95, p = 0.03).

Conclusions: the high Vitamin D status correlated with the serological upregulation of IGFBP-2 in males and IGFBP-3 in females with obesity and may constitute surrogate markers of risk reduction of cardiometabolic disease.

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Identifiers

ORCID for D.J. Garay-Baquero: orcid.org/0000-0002-9450-8504

ORCID for S.D. Garbis: orcid.org/0000-0002-1050-0805

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