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To find out, Kahn's team joined forces with researchers Matthias Bl¨¹her, MD, and colleagues at the University of Leipzig, Germany. They obtained deep belly fat samples from 196 German patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Sixty-six study participants were lean and 130 were obese.
The results:
There was 60 times more RBP4 gene activity in the belly fat of obese patients than in the belly fat of lean patients.
Blood levels of RBP4 were two to three times higher in obese patients than in lean patients. Regardless of whether a patient was lean or obese, higher blood levels of RBP4 meant more deep belly fat and more insulin resistance.
"This suggests a potential role for RBP4 as a convenient marker not only for type 2 diabetes but also for [heart disease] risk," the researchers conclude in the July issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.
The body uses RBP4 -- retinol (vitamin A)-binding-protein 4 -- to carry vitamin A in the blood. In a news release, Kahn says it's not yet clear whether these newly discovered roles for RBP4 are due to vitamin A or to the protein itself.
In earlier studies, Kahn and colleagues showed that RBP4 causes insulin resistance in mice. If it works the same way in people, it might be the target of new diabetes drugs. Interestingly, a cancer drug called fenretinide reduces RBP4 levels. In obese mice, this drug improves insulin sensitivity and blood sugar tolerance.
SOURCES: Kl§èting, N. Cell Metabolism, July 2007; vol 6: pp 79-87. News release, Cell Press. WebMD Medical News: " Protein Predicts Diabetes Destiny."
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