Table 1.
Characteristics of the subjects included in the first study samples.
Table 2.
Pearson correlation coefficients of plasma Lf and anthropometric with biochemical parameters in lean to moderately obese women.
Fig 1.
Plasma Lf levels in lean to moderately obese subjects.
(A) Plasma Lf concentrations were assessed in lean to moderately obese women following stratification performed according to median values of body fat mass (median = 34.8%) and HOMA-IR index (low fat mass group: median = 1.8; high fat mass group: median = 3.1). Correlations were tested between plasma Lf concentrations and HOMA-IR in subjects with body fat mass (%) (B) lower or (C) higher than the median Pearson correlation coefficients of log-transformed variables. P values are shown on the graph: * P<0.05; # P = 0.1.
Table 3.
Characteristics of patients included in the second study sample.
Fig 2.
Plasma Lf levels in severely obese subjects.
Correlations were tested between plasma Lf concentrations and (A) BMI, (B) insulin and (C) HOMA-IR in severely obese subjects without T2D. Pearson correlation coefficients of log-transformed variables and P values are shown in the graph (n = 62); (D) Plasma Lf concentrations in severely obese patients according to HOMA-IR tertiles and to the presence of T2D. * P<0.05.
Table 4.
Adjusted partial correlation coefficients of plasma Lf concentration and HOMA-IR of severely obese women and men.
Table 5.
Anthropometric and biochemical parameters as well as plasma Lf concentrations in a subsample of severely obese subjects matched for sex, age and BMI in high (n = 10) and low insulin sensitivity (n = 10) patients based on HOMA-IR.
Fig 3.
Intestinal Lf mRNA and protein expression in severely obese subjects and in Caco-2/15 cells.
mRNA and protein levels of Lf were estimated in the intestine of insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant obese subjects (n = 9 per group). The relative mRNA fold-changes between groups were calculated using the 2−ΔΔCt method. mRNA data were normalized to ATP5O mRNA expression. Modulation of Lf protein following a 24-hour Caco-2/15 cell incubation with LPS (150 μg/mL). Protein expression values were normalized to β-actin protein expression. In B, samples were run on the same gel, but lanes were not contiguous. * P<0.05 vs. insulin-sensitive subjects, **p<0.001 vs. control cells.