Hepatocyte Growth Factor and Clinical Diabetes in Postmenopausal Women

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between circulating levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a mesenchymal-derived pleiotrophic factor that is elevated in obesity, and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis among 892 postmenopausal women within the Women''s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS).

RESULTS

HGF levels positively correlated with BMI and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance. In the multivariable analysis comparing the highest tertile with the lowest tertile of HGF, the odds ratio for prevalent diabetes was 2.47 (95% CI [1.12–5.47], P for trend = 0.014) after accounting for age, race, BMI, and other risk factors for diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS

HGF levels are associated with the presence of type 2 diabetes in postmenopausal women. Future studies should consider the prospective evaluation of the association of HGF with the development of type 2 diabetes.Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a mesenchymal-derived pleiotropic factor that regulates growth, motility, and morphogenesis of various cells (1). HGF is highly expressed in white adipose tissue (2,3), and it stimulates glucose uptake in cultured adipocytes (4). In humans, circulating HGF positively correlates with insulin and glucose (5) and is reported to be elevated in obesity (6), metabolic syndrome (5), hypertension (7), and coronary heart disease (8). Although HGF levels are observed to be elevated in these diabetes-associated conditions, the specific HGF-diabetes association has not yet been investigated. Hence, we conducted a study to examine the cross-sectional relationship between HGF and diabetes in a representative sample of postmenopausal women (n = 892) within the Women''s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS).