Objective: The association between circulating vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) and metabolic phenotypes has been shown to be inconsistent. The current study explored whether the changes in serum VAP-1 levels correlate with the changes in metabolic phenotypes after weight reduction surgery.
Research methods and procedures: Clinical characteristics and serum VAP-1 levels in 20 morbidly obese subjects (mean BMI 38.84 kg/m(2)) were measured before and after vertical banded gastroplasty.
Results: Before surgery, serum VAP-1 levels correlated positively with fasting plasma glucose (gamma = 0.56, p = 0.01) and negatively with insulin levels (gamma = -0.51, p = 0.021). After surgery, the changes in serum VAP-1 levels were negatively correlated with the changes in waist circumference (gamma = -0.57, p = 0.011), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (gamma = -0.56, p = 0.015), and mean arterial pressure (gamma = -0.46, p = 0.055). In multivariate regression, serum VAP-1 levels were negatively correlated with waist circumference (beta = -2.36, p = 0.014) and DBP (beta = -3.02, p = 0.017) after adjusting for age and gender. The change in DBP was negatively correlated with the change in VAP-1 levels after adjusting for age, gender, and steady-state plasma glucose.
Discussion: The results suggest that VAP-1 levels are correlated with fasting glucose and insulin levels in morbidly obese subjects. After surgery, the changes in VAP-1 levels were associated with changes in visceral adiposity and DBP. Serum VAP-1 might modulate DBP independently from the changes in insulin resistance in morbidly obese people.