Serum levels of angiopoietin-related growth factor in diabetes mellitus and chronic hemodialysis

Obesity is an increasing health problem all over the world. Angiopoietin-related growth factor (AGF, ANGPTL6) is a hepatocyte that directly regulates lipid, glucose and energy metabolism independent of angiogenic effects. In this study, we investigated circulating AGF levels in relation to kidney function, type 2 diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance. Angiopoietin-related growth factor was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in subjects with a normal glomerular filtration rate (n = 44, 22 diabetic and 22 nondiabetic) and in patients on chronic hemodialysis (CD; n = 44, 22 diabetic and 22 nondiabetic). Median serum AGF levels were 176,6± 96,6 μg/L inpatients who underwent dialysis and 186,0±81,7 μg/L in patients not on dialysis. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean serum AGF levels of the patients who underwent dialysis and those who did not(p>0.05). AGF serum levels were significantly increased in diabetic patients (222,56±90,61 μg/L) as compared with non-diabetic patients (140,12 ± 66,06 μg/L) (P <0.05). In addition, we evaluated the relationship between biochemical parameters and anthropometric measurements of the patients and AGF in our study. BMI, HOMA, waist/hip circumference ratios positively correlated with circulating AGF in all patients. Our results suggest that T2DM is positively associated with AGF serum levels. We think that this study will be useful to explain the pathogenesis of AGF in insulin resistance. Further studies are needed to better elucidate the physiologic significance of circulating AGF in human.