Serum Levels of Chemerin in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease as an Indicator of Anti-TNF Treatment Efficacy

Chemerin, TNF - α and the degree of albuminuria in patients with diabetic kidney disease

BACKGROUND

Chronic inflammation has been increasingly recognized as an essential pathogenic mechanism for the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Chemerin is an adipokine which has been suggested to be related to inflammation and has been correlated with the development of diabetic complications. We aimed to explore the potential links between chemerin, TNF - α, as a marker of systemic inflammation, and the level of albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHOD

The study included 84 patients with T2DM and 10 normoalbuminuric non-diabetic controls. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data including chemerin and TNF-α levels were collected.

RESULTS

A total of 84 diabetic patients were enrolled, 32 males (38.1 %), with mean age 57.9 ± 10.7 years. They were divided into 3 groups: A1: 14 with normalbuminuria, A2: 27 with microalbuminuria, and A3: 43 with macroalbuminuria (uACR < 30, 30-300 and > 300 mg/gm respectively). Chemerin and TNF-α levels increased with the progress of albuminuria (control: 21.3 (14.7 -77), A1: 794 (683-925), A2: 1150 (962.9 - 1221.5) and A3: 1466 (1197.5 - 2002.5) ng/ml; p < 0.001) and (control: 77.9 (59 - 96.8), A1: 85.2 (71-116.3), A2: 87.3 (81 - 97.5) and A3: 99 (85.1 - 142.5) pg/ml; p = 0.009) respectively. Among the diabetics, a significant association was evident between serum chemerin and serum TNF-α (r = 0.53; p < 0.001). On linear stepwise regression analysis, chemerin was significantly associated with TNF-α and HbA1c (unstandardized β 10.881 and 272.68 respectively, p < 0.001); and TNF-α was significantly correlated with chemerin, uACR (unstandardized β 0.059 and 0.004 respectively, p < 0.001) and HbA1c (unstandardized β -13.699, p = 0.014).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest a potential role of chemerin and TNF-α in the development and progression of DKD, and thus support the role of the inflammatory pathway. Larger follow up studies are warranted to further explore the potential links between chemerin, inflammation and DKD.

The role of Chemerin in human diseases

Chemerin is a protein encoded by the Rarres2 gene that acts through endocrine or paracrine regulation. Chemerin can bind to its receptor, regulate insulin sensitivity and adipocyte differentiation, and thus affect glucose and lipid metabolism. There is growing evidence that it also plays an important role in diseases such as inflammation and cancer. Chemerin has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and metabolic diseases caused by leukocyte chemoattractants in a variety of organs, but its biological function remains controversial. In conclusion, the exciting findings collected over the past few years clearly indicate that targeting Chemerin signaling as a biological target will be a major research goal in the future. This article reviews the pathophysiological roles of Chemerin in various systems and diseases,and expect to provide a rationale for its role as a clinical therapeutic target.

Circulating chemerin levels in metabolic-associated fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectives

Chemerin is a brand-new adipokine that has been linked to both inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. Even though a rising number of studies have connected chemerin to metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), formerly referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), this association has been controversial.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search was undertaken up to February 1, 2022, in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, WANFANG, and CBM library databases. Circulating chemerin levels were obtained and summarized using the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were conducted to examine the possibility of heterogeneity.

Results

A total of 17 studies involving 2580 participants (1584 MAFLD patients and 996 controls) evaluated circulating chemerin levels in patients with MAFLD. The present study showed that higher chemerin levels were found in patients with MAFLD (SMD: 1.32; 95% CI: 0.29, 2.35) and nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) (SMD: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.01, 1.50) compared to controls. However, circulating chemerin levels did not differ significantly in the following comparisons: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients and controls (SMD: 0.75; 95% CI: -0.52, 2.03); NASH patients and NAFL patients (SMD: 0.16; 95% CI: -0.39, 0.70); moderate to severe steatosis and mild steatosis (SMD: 0.55; 95% CI: -0.59, 1.69); present liver fibrosis and absent liver fibrosis (SMD: 0.66; 95% CI: -0.42, 1.74); present lobular inflammation and absent lobular inflammation (SMD: 0.45; 95% CI: -0.53, 1.42); and present portal inflammation and absent portal inflammation (SMD: 1.92; 95% CI: -0.85, 4.69).

Conclusions

Chemerin levels were considerably greater in patients with MAFLD than in controls, despite the fact that they were not significantly linked to different liver tissue lesions of MAFLD. In different subtypes of MAFLD, in comparison to healthy controls, the chemerin levels of NAFL patients were higher, whereas, there was no obvious difference in chemerin levels between NASH patients and controls. It is possible that chemerin will be used as a biomarker in the future to track the development and progression of MAFLD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12944-022-01637-7.