1Internal Medicine Department, "Sant Joan" University Hospital (Reus-Spain), Institut Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
Lupus. 2014 Mar;23(3):245-54. doi: 10.1177/0961203313517405. Epub 2014 Jan 3.
The aim of this study is to determine if circulating fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) plasma levels are a possible marker of metabolic risk in SLE patients. Circulating levels of adipose FABP4 are associated with adiposity, insulin resistance (IR), metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Patients affected by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) show an accelerated atherosclerosis that cannot be entirely explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Sixty consecutive patients with SLE and 34 non-SLE age-matched controls were recruited for the study. Total plasma lipids and circulating FABP4 were determined. Subclinical atherosclerosis was evaluated by measuring carotid intimae-media thickness (c-IMT) by sonography, and the distribution of lipoprotein subclasses was analysed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In the SLE group, FABP4 was associated with IR, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, as measured by NMR, and the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis. In multivariate analyses FABP4 was associated with increased c-IMT independent of the inflammatory state of the patient. In sum, circulating FABP4 is involved in the metabolic disturbances of SLE affecting lipid metabolism and IR, and it could be a biomarker of atherosclerosis in this population.
本研究旨在确定循环脂肪酸结合蛋白 4（FABP4）的血浆水平是否是 SLE 患者代谢风险的一个可能标志物。脂肪组织 FABP4 的循环水平与肥胖、胰岛素抵抗（IR）、代谢综合征、糖尿病和心血管疾病有关。患有系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）的患者表现出加速的动脉粥样硬化，这不能完全用传统的心血管危险因素来解释。本研究共纳入 60 例连续的 SLE 患者和 34 名年龄匹配的非 SLE 对照组。测定了总血浆脂质和循环 FABP4。通过超声测量颈动脉内膜中层厚度（c-IMT）评估亚临床动脉粥样硬化，通过核磁共振（NMR）光谱分析脂蛋白亚类的分布。在 SLE 组中，FABP4 与 IR、NMR 测定的致动脉粥样硬化血脂异常以及亚临床动脉粥样硬化有关。在多变量分析中，FABP4 与增加的 c-IMT 相关，独立于患者的炎症状态。总之，循环 FABP4 参与了影响脂代谢和 IR 的 SLE 代谢紊乱，并且可能是该人群动脉粥样硬化的生物标志物。
