1. ^*Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Okayama, Japan
2. ^†Okayama Southern Institute of Health, Okayama, Japan

Correspondence: Jun Wada Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. E-mail: junwada@md.okayama-u.ac.jp

^*The costs of publication of this article were defrayed, in part, by the payment of page charges. This article must, therefore, be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 25 July 2005; Accepted 6 February 2006.

Abstract

Objective: Chronic inflammation observed in obesity has been reported to be implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. We screened candidate chemokines that link chronic inflammation and obesity.

Research Methods and Procedures: Japanese overweight (n = 39, BMI 28.7 0.65 kg/m²) and normal-weight (n = 24, BMI 22.3 0.45 kg/m²) subjects were enrolled. Using antibody-based protein microarray, spot intensities of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-4, eotaxin, and eotaxin-2 correlated with anthropometric parameters. We further measured serum concentration of these chemokines and mRNA levels in adipose tissues obtained from volunteers.

Results: Serum MCP-4 levels showed positive correlation with BMI (r = 0.318, p = 0.014), waist (r = 0.316, p = 0.018), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (r = 0.264, p = 0.049). Furthermore, MCP-4 correlated with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (r = 0.392, p = 0.002), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (r = 0.350, p = 0.006). In step-wise multiple regression analyses, hsCRP independently correlated with MCP-4 levels. The expression of MCP-4 mRNA in visceral adipose tissue positively correlates with BMI. Serum eotaxin levels correlate with BMI (r = 0.262, p = 0.045) and WHR (r = 0.383, p = 0.003). Serum eotaxin-2 levels correlated with BMI (r = 0.464, p < 0.001), waist (r = 0.333, p = 0.017), and WHR (r = 0.278, p = 0.048). However, eotaxin and eotaxin-2 levels did not show significant correlation with hsCRP.

Discussion: Serum levels of MCP-4, eotaxin, and eotaxin-2, which belong to CC chemokine family and share CC chemokine receptor 3, correlated with BMI. These chemokines, especially MCP-4, may be critical molecules that link obesity and chronic inflammation.