Placental growth factor is a sensitive indicator of abdominal fat accumulation and increased insulin resistance after smoking cessation in men

Placental growth factor is a sensitive indicator of abdominal fat accumulation and increased insulin resistance after smoking cessation in men

Akira Yamada1, Hiromichi Wada1, Shuji Kitaoka1, Noriko Satoh-Asahara1, Tomohide Takaya1, Rieko Takanabe-Mori1, Masaharu Akao1, Tatsuya Morimoto2, Masatoshi Fujita3, Yuko Takahashi4, Akira Shimatsu1, Koji Hasegawa1.

  1. Kyoto Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Kyoto, Japan.
  2. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan.
  3. Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
  4. Nara Women's University, Nara, Japan.

The 6th China-Japan Cardiovascular Forum (Beijing, China), 2010/10/16 (Poster).

Abstract

Background: Placental growth factor (PlGF) is a homologue of vacular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) which is essential for angiogenesis and adipogenesis in obesity. PlGF plays an important role in pathological, but not in physiological, angiogenesis, and its inactivation impairs adipose tissue development in a murine model of diet-induced obesity. Smoking cessation (SC) is associated with an increase in the prevalence of being overweight, which may lead to the increased new onset of diabetes. However, the relationship between serum PlGF levels and weight gain after SC is unknown.

Methods and Results: We carried out a cross-sectional study involving 176 consecutive, apparently healthy men who were not receiving any drugs. They were divided into 71 lean (mean age: 46±9 (SD) years) and 105 overeweight/obese (47±8 years) subjects. Levels of VEGF-A, and soluble VEGF receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1) and -2 (sVEGFR-2) did not differ between lean and overweight/obese subjects. However, PlGF levels were significantly increased in overweight/obese compared with lean subjects (P = 0.003). After adjusting for age, the PlGF level was positively correlated with the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), insulin registance, and atherogenic dyslipidemia including non-high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and was negatively correlated with sVEGFR-1. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that independent determinants of the PlGF level were sVEGFR-1 (β = -0.26, F = 13), non-HDL-C (β = 0.17, F = 5.5), WC (β = 0.17, F = 5), and age (β = 0.15, F = 4). Then, we evaluated the effect of successful SC on serum levels of VEGF-A, PlGF, sVEGFR-1, and sVEGFR-2 in men (n = 60) at the Smoking Cessation Clinic. The successful SC significantly increased the BMI (P = 0.003) and levels of VEGF-A (P = 0.001), sVEGFR-2 (P = 0.002), and PlGF (P < 0.0001), but not those of sVEGFR-1. Interestingly, a decrease in adiponectin after SC is significantly correlated with an increase in PlGF (P = 0.002), but not with an increase in VEGF-A, sVEGFR-1, or sVEGFR-2.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the PlGF level is closely associated with abdominal fat accumulation and may serve as an indicator of increased insulin resistance after SC in men.