Mingyue Xu,* Chunlin Zhang,* Linlin Zhang, Hua Qu, Yuren Wang

Department of Endocrinology, Translational Research of Diabetes Key Laboratory of Chongqing Education Commission of China, Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Hua Qu; Yuren Wang, Department of Endocrinology, Translational Research of Diabetes Key Laboratory of Chongqing Education Commission of China, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 2368763255, Fax +86 2368755707, Email quhuahua120@163.com; 346577395@qq.com

Purpose: To explore the expression of asprosin in subjects with pre-DKD and DKD and to analyze its relationship with kidney injury, inflammation, and glucose and lipid metabolism.
Methods: Based on urine albumin:creatinine ratio (UACr), participants were divided into DM, pre-DKD, and DKD groups. Relevant human physiological and biochemical parameters were detected in the three groups.
Results: We found relatively higher levels of asprosin in both pre-DKD and DKD groups than the DM group. Moreover, data from the Nephroseq database support increased gene expression of asprosin in kidney tissue from DKD patients. Further correlation analysis revealed that the plasma asprosin level was positively correlated with age, waist circumference, waist:hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, creatinine, UACr, triglycerides, HDL-c, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and the inflammatory marker G3P and negatively associated with eGFR. Multiple logistical regression analysis showed that asprosin concentration was significantly associated with pre-DKD and DKD after adjusting for sex, age, BMI, WHR, and HOMA-IR, while this correlation was lost after controlling for G3P.
Conclusion: Plasma asprosin is associated with kidney injury in diabetic conditions, and this association might be connected through inflammatory response. Further studies are needed to assess the role and mechanism of asprosin in DKD.

Keywords: asprosin, diabetes, diabetic kidney disease, kidney injury