Juliane Menzel

Circulating Omentin as a Novel Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer Risk: Data from the EPIC–Potsdam Cohort Study

Omentin is a novel biomarker shown to exert metabolic, inflammatory, and immune-related properties and thereby could be implicated in the risk of colorectal cancer. So far, the association between omentin and colorectal cancer risk has not been evaluated in prospective cohort studies. We investigated the association between prediagnostic plasma omentin concentrations and risk of colorectal cancer in a case-cohort comprising 251 incident colorectal cancer cases diagnosed over a mean follow-up time of 10.4 years and 2,295 persons who remained free of cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Hazard ratios as a measure of relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using a Prentice-modified Cox regression. In a multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, education, dietary and lifestyle factors, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference, higher omentin concentrations were associated with a higher colorectal cancer risk (RRcontinuously per doubling of omentin concentrations = 1.98; 95% CI, 1.45-2.73). Additional adjustment for metabolic biomarkers, including glycated hemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and C-reactive protein, did not alter the results. In stratified analyses, the positive association between omentin and colorectal cancer risk was retained in participants with BMI < 30 (RRcontinuously per doubling of omentin concentrations = 2.26; 95% CI, 1.57-3.27), whereas among participants with BMI ≥ 30 no association was revealed (RRcontinuously per doubling of omentin concentrations = 1.07; 95% CI, 0.63-1.83; Pinteraction = 0.005). These novel findings provide the first lines of evidence for an independent association between prediagnostic omentin concentrations and colorectal cancer risk and suggest a potential interaction with the adiposity state of the individual. Cancer Res; 76(13); 3862-71. ©2016 AACR.

Omentin-1, Adiponectin, and the Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Omentin-1 is a novel adipokine (1), and its potential role in diabetes pathogenesis is still under debate (2). We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association of omentin-1 concentrations with the risk of type 2 diabetes. This observational study was based on 2,500 randomly selected participants of the prospective European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam cohort ( n = 27,548) (3,4). Exclusion criteria were prevalent diabetes at baseline ( n = 112), unclear diabetes status ( n = 19), and incomplete follow-up information ( n = 50). Missing biomarker information (HbA1c 14%, all others below 10%) was handled by multiple imputation. The final sample comprised 2,319 participants, including 123 incident type 2 diabetes cases. Omentin-1 plasma concentrations were quantified by a commercial sandwich ELISA (BioVendor, Brno, Czech Republic). We previously demonstrated excellent reliability of single omentin-1 measurements (5). Applied statistical methods were multivariable-adjusted linear regression (cross-sectional associations) and Cox proportional hazards regression (longitudinal association of baseline omentin-1 with …

Reproducibility of Retinol Binding Protein 4 and Omentin-1 Measurements over a Four Months Period: A Reliability Study in a Cohort of 207 Apparently Healthy Participants

The reliability of single time point measurements of the novel adipokines retinol-binding protein 4 and omentin-1 in the blood has not been evaluated in large samples yet. The present study aimed to assess the amount of biological variation of these two adipokines within individuals. The study sample comprised 207 participants (124 women and 83 men) from Potsdam (Germany) and surrounding areas, with an average age of 56.5 years (SD 4.2). Blood samples were collected from each participant twice, approximately four months apart. Using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays, the concentrations of retinol-binding protein 4 and omentin-1 were determined in EDTA plasma. As indicators of reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated from the repeated biomarker measurements. The ICCs for repeated retinol-binding protein 4 and omentin-1 measurements were 0.77 (95% CI 0.71, 0.82) and 0.83 (95% CI 0.78, 0.87), respectively, indicating for both adipokines excellent reliability. ICCs were stable across strata according to sex, age, BMI, and blood pressure. Thus, for epidemiological studies it seems reasonable to rely on concentrations of retinol-binding protein 4 and omentin-1 in samples from a single time point if repeated measurements are not available.

Association between chemerin, omentin-1 and risk of heart failure in the population-based EPIC-Potsdam study

The adipokines chemerin and omentin-1 have been suggested to influence cardiovascular function. The study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between chemerin, omentin-1 concentrations and risk of incident heart failure (HF), respectively. We conducted a case-cohort study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam cohort (n = 27548) including a randomly drawn subsample and all incident HF cases during a mean follow-up of 8.2 ± 1.5 years. A total of 212 incident HF cases and 2168 individuals free of HF cases were included in the study. After multivariable adjustment for established cardiovascular risk factors chemerin was strongly associated with risk of HF (HR per doubling chemerin: 4.91; 95%-CI: 2.57–9.39; p < 0.0001). Omentin-1 was not significantly related to HF risk in the overall study population. However, the association between omentin-1 and HF risk was modified by prevalent coronary heart disease (CHD), showing that the shape of the association was linear in participants without prevalent CHD (HR doubling omentin-1: 2.11; 95%-CI: 1.36–3.27; p linear = 0.0009) and U-shaped in participants with pre-existing CHD (p non-linear = 0.006). Our study provides first evidence for a strong positive association between chemerin and risk of HF. The association between the adipokine omentin-1 and risk of HF may differ according to pre-existing CHD.