The role of inflammation in the metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in adult Nigerians with the metabolic syndrome and to determine the relationship between components of the metabolic syndrome and CRP in adult Nigerians. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study of 50 adult men and women with metabolic syndrome and 50 age- and sex-matched men and women without metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria. Written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were taken and venous blood was collected after an overnight fast. The Ethics Committee of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria approved the study protocol. Comparisons of the continuous variables and the categorical variables were done using the Student's t-test and Chi-square test, respectively. Regression analysis was used to determine the associations between the variables. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: The study subjects differed in some clinical and laboratory parameters such as diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.048), waist circumference (P = 0.002), body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.012), waist/hip ratio (P = 0.023), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P = 0.012), and insulin resistance (P = 0.042). There was a statistically significant increase in the inflammatory marker, CRP (P = 0.019), cytokines, IL-6 (P = 0.040), and TNFα (P = 0.031) between the subjects with and without metabolic syndrome. There was also a positive significant association between CRP, waist circumference, and insulin resistance and a negative significant association between CRP and HDL in metabolic syndrome (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study reports increased plasma levels of the inflammatory cytokines, IL-6, TNFα and in the inflammatory marker and CRP in metabolic syndrome. Understanding the role of inflammation in the metabolic syndrome may provide novel strategies for the management of metabolic syndrome and related disorders.

Keywords

• Inflammation
• insulin resistance
• metabolic syndrome
• obesity