Abstract

Lipidomics Associations of Phospholipids with Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Young Adults

Sebastian Rauschert, PhD Student, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität

Background: Obesity and associated diseases have become a global public health burden. This study analysed plasma samples from young adults to search for lipidomic biomarkers of obesity and insulin resistance (IR) and possible association, with the aim of a better diagnosis. Subjects/Methods: Plasma samples from 1176 subjects aged 20 years from The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study were analysed using mass spectrometry based metabolomics. Associations of analytes with markers of obesity and IR including BMI, waist circumference (WC), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR), insulin and HOMA-IR stratified by BMI status were examined after exclusion of LDL/HDL effects. Results: Five sphingomyelins (SM) and one diacyl-phosphatidylcholine (PCaa) were positively while three lyso-phosphatidylcholines (LPC) were negatively associated to WC. Two PCaa and two acyl-alkyl-phosphatidylcholines (PCae) were negatively and two LPC were positively associated with HOMA-IR. In the obese/overweight group of the stratified HOMA model, three LPC were decreased. In the normal weight group, two LPC and one PCaa were increased. Conclusion: A possible discriminative effect of SM, particularly those with two double bonds, and LPC was identified between normal weight and obese subjects independent of LDL and HDL. Additionally, our results suggest different mechanisms for the development of IR dependent on weight status.