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Is leptin an important physiological regulator of CRP?

Nature Medicine volume 13, pages 17–18 (2007)Cite this article

To the Editor:

Binding between C-reactive protein (CRP) and human leptin in vitro, and inhibition by CRP of the effects of human leptin in mice in vivo, have recently been reported by Chen et al.1. In their in vitro studies the authors showed that after exposure of leptin-coupled agarose beads to serum and washing, CRP was among the proteins eluted with acid. However, we have previously reported the specific calcium-dependent binding of CRP to agarose2,3. Therefore, we compared the binding of CRP from human serum to leptin-coupled agarose beads with that to identical beads that were blocked with Tris but had no coupled protein. We used the same coupling gel (Pierce AminoLink) as Chen et al.1 and tested both a normal (CRP 1 mg/liter) and acute-phase (CRP 69 mg/liter) human serum. We obtained identical trace quantities of CRP from the agarose beads regardless of the presence or absence of leptin. Furthermore, calcium chelation with EDTA eluted the same quantities of CRP from both sets of beads as did elution with acid, demonstrating that the CRP underwent its expected calcium-dependent binding to the agarose matrix2,3 independent of the presence of leptin. The nanogram quantities of CRP that were eluted and detected by western blotting, as used by Chen et al.1, were consistent with the known binding of CRP to agarose and were directly related to the CRP concentration present in the serum. Chen et al.1 did not report the CRP concentration in the human serum they used1, but they also used rat serum, known to be rich in rat CRP (300 mg/liter or more), which binds more avidly to agarose and is therefore recovered in higher yield4.

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Figure 1: Effect of CRP on leptin action in mice.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by grants to M.B.P. from the Medical Research Council (program grant G7900510) and the National Institutes of Health NHLBI Inflammation and Thrombosis Program (project grant 1 R01 HL078578 01). A.P.C. is a Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist.

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  1. Winston L Hutchinson and Anthony P Coll: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins, University College London, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF, UK

    Winston L Hutchinson, J Ruth Gallimore, Glenys A Tennent & Mark B Pepys

  2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK

    Anthony P Coll

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  1. Winston L Hutchinson
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  2. Anthony P Coll
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Hutchinson, W., Coll, A., Gallimore, J. et al. Is leptin an important physiological regulator of CRP?. Nat Med 13, 17–18 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0107-17

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