Positive correlation of serum adipocyte fatty acid binding protein levels with metabolic syndrome in kidney transplantation patients.

Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) is significantly expressed in white and brown adipose tissue, monocytes, and macrophages and is a central regulator of systemic insulin sensitivity. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM), chronic graft dysfunction, graft loss, and patient death in kidney transplantation (KT) patients. This study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between MetS and fasting serum A-FABP concentration in KT patients. Fasting blood samples were obtained from 70 KT patients. Serum A-FABP levels were measured using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. MetS and its components were defined using the diagnostic criteria of the International Diabetes Federation. Twenty-two patients (31.4%) had MetS. KT patients with hypertension ( = 0.011), diabetes ( = 0.002), body weight ( = 0.004), body mass index (BMI, = 0.001), waist circumference ( < 0.001), body fat mass ( < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (SBP, = 0.017), total cholesterol (TCH, = 0.028), triglycerides (TG, = 0.001), blood urea nitrogen (BUN, = 0.003), insulin ( < 0.001), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, < 0.001), and A-FABP level ( < 0.001) were higher, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, = 0.010) was lower in KT patients with MetS. Moreover, SBP (β = 0.347, adjusted R change = 0.108, = 0.001) and logarithmically transformed triglycerides (log-TG, β = 0.393, adjusted R change = 0.189, < 0.001) were associated with A-FABP levels in a multivariable forward stepwise linear regression analysis among KT patients. The results of our study showed that the fasting A-FABP level was positively associated with MetS in KT patients. SBP and log-TG were independent predictors of the serum A-FABP level among KT patients.