Circulating betatrophin in pregnant individuals with gestational diabetes mellitus and normal glucose tolerance

The role of betatrophin in diabetes has been paid attention; however, there were controversial conclusions. This study was aimed to investigate serum levels of betatrophin in pregnant participants with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), as well as the relationships between its circulating concentrations and some clinical parameters. Between August 2014 and April 2015, a total of 150 women subjects including 50 female healthy controls, 50 NGT participants, and 50 GDM patients were recruited. All the subjects were age-and pre-body mass index (BMI)-matched, along with matched gestational weeks between the NGT and GDM group. Serum betatrophin levels were analyzed using sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Also, serum levels of triglycerides (TG), cholesterol (CHO), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) were analyzed. Moreover, Pearson correlation analysis was applied to determine the correlations between the parameters and betatrophin levels. Serum betatrophin levels were significantly higher in the NGT and GDM subjects than health controls (P<0.001). But no significance was found in the NGT and GDM with respect to all the parameters in our study. In addition, betatrophin levels were positively correlated with pre-BMI, ALT, and AST in the health controls, and positively correlated with pre-BMI in the GDM group, but negatively correlated with AST in the NGT group. These results indicate that serum betatrophin levels were associated with insulin resistance (IR) induced by pregnancy in NGT and GDM.