Lipidomics Reveals Associations of Phospholipids With Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Young Adults

CONTEXT: Obesity and related diseases have become a global public health burden. Identifying biomarkers will lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms associated with obesity and the pathways leading to insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the lipidomic biomarkers associated with obesity and IR using plasma samples from a population-based cohort of young adults.

DESIGN AND SETTING: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) study enrolled 2900 pregnant women from 1989 to 1991. The 20-year follow-up was conducted between March 2010 and April 2012. Participants and Samples: Plasma samples from 1176 subjects aged 20 years were analyzed using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Associations of analytes with markers of obesity and IR including body mass index, waist circumference, homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR), and insulin were examined. Analyses were stratified by body mass index and adjusted for lifestyle and other factors.

RESULTS: Waist circumference was positively associated with seven sphingomyelins and five diacylphosphatidylcholines and negatively associated with two lysophosphatidylcholines. HOMA-IR was negatively associated with two diacylphosphatidylcholines and positively with one lysophosphatidylcholine and one diacylphosphatidylcholine. No significant association was found in the obese/overweight group of the HOMA-IR model. In the normal-weight group, one lysophosphatidylcholine was increased.

CONCLUSION: A possible discriminative effect of sphingomyelins, particularly those with two double bonds, and lysophosphatidylcholines was identified between subjects with normal weight and obesity independent of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. Our results suggest weight status-dependent mechanisms for the development of IR with lysophosphatidylcholine C14:0 as a key metabolite in nonobese IR.