Association between insulin, glucagon, high sensitive c-reactive protein, insulin resistance with visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor (VASPIN) in obese population

Background: Obesity is an inflammatory condition that results in an increase in high sensitive C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), a risk for insulin resistance (IR). Vaspin has the effect of increasing insulin receptor sensitivity and on the other hand is a compensatory response to insulin resistance, one of which is measured by homeostasis models assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). This study was an analytical cross-sectional observational design, to determine the association between insulin, glucagon, CRP, and HOMA-IR levels with serum vaspin in obesity. Method: This study is an analytical study with a cross-sectional design.  Criteria of inclusion were subjects in the range 18-60 years Denpasar citizen with BMI above 25 kg/m2 and willing to be involved in this study, while exclusion criteria were with either chronic conditions or acute inflammation such as infection, cancer, tumor, or chronic disease which is altered and threatening life. Correlation tests using spearman analysis. Results: From 131 obese subjects in this study, there were 72 (55%) men and 59 (45%) women. Median age: 33 (22-57) years, fasting insulin: 8.90 (2.20-74.50) ìIU/mL, glucagon: 48.10 (7.58-293.90) pq/mL, hs-CRP: 1.90 (0.20-9.50) mg/L, HOMA-IR: 2 (0.50-23.15), and vaspin levels: 0.16 (0.04-1.46) ng/mL. There was a significant positive correlation between HOMA-IR, insulin and glucagon with vaspin (r = 0.20, p = 0.020; r = 0.20, p = 0.022; and r = 0.28, p = 0.001), and a significant negative correlation between hs-CRP and vaspin (r = -0.24, p = 0.005) in obesity. In the path analysis, there was a direct and total negative effect of hs-CRP on vaspin (coefficient = -0.19; p = 0.027 and coefficient = -0.02; p = 0.038). Conclusion: This study shows a positive association between insulin, glucagon, and HOMA-IR with serum vaspin, while CRP is negatively associated with serum vaspin in obesity.