Elsevier

Atherosclerosis

Volume 246, March 2016, Pages 267-273
Atherosclerosis

Serum CETP concentration is not associated with measures of body fat: The NEO study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2016.01.031Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • We studied the association between measures of body fat and serum CETP levels.

  • We included 6606 participants from a large population-based cohort.

  • Measures of body fat were not clinically relevant associated with serum CETP.

  • Our finding implies that adipose tissue does not contribute to the serum CETP pool.

Abstract

Introduction

Adipose tissue has been postulated to contribute substantially to the serum cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) pool. However, in a recent large cohort study waist circumference was not associated with plasma CETP. The aim of the present study was to further examine associations of accurate measures of body fat and body fat distribution with serum CETP concentration.

Methods

In this cross-sectional analysis of the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study, we examined in 6606 participants (aged 45–65 years) the associations of total body fat, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), abdominal subcutaneous (aSAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (n = 2547) and total and trunk fat mass assessed with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (n = 909) with serum CETP concentration. Regression models were adjusted for age, ethnicity, sex, dietary intake of fat and cholesterol, physical activity, smoking and menopausal status.

Results

Mean (SD) age was 56 (6) years and BMI 26.3 (4.4) kg/m2, 56% were women. Mean serum CETP concentration was 2.47 μg/mL. The difference in serum CETP was 0.02 μg/mL (95%CI: −0.01, 0.05) per SD total body fat (8.7%), and 0.02 μg/mL (0.00, 0.04) per SD BMI (4.4 kg/m2). Similar associations around the null were observed for waist circumference, WHR, aSAT, VAT, total and trunk fat mass.

Conclusion

In this population-based study, there was no evidence for clinically relevant associations between several measures of body fat and serum CETP concentration. This finding implies that adipose tissue does not contribute to the CETP pool in serum.

Keywords

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein
Body fat
Body fat distribution
Subcutaneous adipose tissue
Visceral adipose tissue

Abbreviations

aSAT
abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue
BIA
bioelectrical impedance analysis
BMI
body mass index
C
cholesterol
CETP
cholesteryl ester transfer protein
DXA
dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
ELISA
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
En%
energy percent
FFQ
food frequency questionnaire
HDL
high-density lipoprotein
LDL
low-density lipoprotein
LUMC
Leiden University Medical Center
LXRα
liver X receptor α
MET
metabolic equivalents of task
MRI
magnetic resonance imaging
NEO
Netherlands epidemiology of obesity
SQUAH
short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity
TG
triglycerides
VAT
visceral adipose tissue
(V)LDL
(very) low-density lipoproteins
WHR
waist-to-hip ratio

Cited by (0)