Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is related to metabolic syndrome and homocysteine in subjects without clinically significant atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: The features of the metabolic syndrome include glucose intolerance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and central obesity, all of which are risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) play a key role in atherosclerosis. We examined the association between chemokines, such as MCP-1 and IL-8, and metabolic syndrome.
METHODS: The present study was comprised of 54 men and 126 women. Subjects with cardiovascular disease such as myocardial infarction, TIA and cerebral infarction were excluded.
RESULTS: MCP-1 was positively correlated with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, homocysteine, and mean pulse wave velocity, but IL-8 was not. In multiple regression analysis, age, HOMA-IR and homocysteine were found to be an independent factor associated with MCP-1 adjusted by gender, waist, systolic blood pressure, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, and hs-CRP. After adjustment for age and gender, mean MCP-1 was higher in subjects with metabolic syndrome and in subject with high blood pressure among the individual components of the metabolic syndrome.
CONCLUSION: MCP-1 was associated with a low-grade systemic inflammatory reaction which is often found in the metabolic syndrome.