Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2009) 20 P458

ECE2009 Poster Presentations Obesity and Metabolism (70 abstracts)

Changes in serum levels of fetal antigen 1 (FA1/Pref-1/Dlk1) in extreme nutritional states

Alin Andries 1 , René Støving 1 , Andrea Wolf 2 , U Beisiegel 3 , Kirsten Hørder 1 , SB Martin 1 , BM Abdallah 1 & Moustapha Kassem 1


1Department of Endocrinology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 2Department for Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany; 3Institute for Molecular Cell Biology, Center for Experimental Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.


Background: Also known as preadipocyte factor 1 (pref-1) or delta-like 1 (Dlk1), fetal antigen 1 (FA1) was originally isolated from amniotic fluid and it is involved in tissue homeostatis during development and tissue regeneration in the post-natal organisms. FA1 may also plays a role in energy metabolism since mice deficient in FA1 are obese and mice overexpressing FA1 exhibit a lipodystrophy phenotype.

In our study we determined FA1 serum levels in patients in two extreme nutritional states, anorexia nervosa (AN) and severe obesity.

Methods: We studied 15 women with AN, median body mass index (BMI) 15.0±1.5 kg/m2, before and after a minor weight change to 15.7±1.3 kg/m2, and 25 obese patients, median BMI 48.00±7.8 kg/m2, before bariatric surgery and at defined points of excess weight loss (EWL) of 25, 50 and 75%. Metabolic parameters and FA1 were measured.

Results: FA1 levels were significantly inversely correlated with BMI before and after body weight change in AN patients. In the obese subjects, FA1 levels decreased from 24.2±11.9 to 15.3±5.0 ng/ml after 25% EWL, however, upon the following further weight loss, no significant changes in FA1 levels could be detected. Insulin levels were significantly correlated with FA1 in AN patients before weight change but otherwise not.

Conclusion: In nutritive steady state conditions, FA1 levels were similar in morbid obese and in emaciated AN patietens, however the initial fall in serum FA1 level after restrictive bariatric surgery induced weight loss indicate that FA1 directly or indirectly may be implicated in metabolic adaptation and/or stress following excessive weight loss.

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