C1q/TNF-related protein 9 (CTRP9) is a paralogue of adiponectin with known favorable effects on lipid and glucose metabolism. A potential role of CTRP9 for regulation of endothelium function has been suggested by previous studies. However, no studies have examined the relation between serum CTRP9 levels and adhesion molecules in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study was conducted on 337 subjects who underwent coronary angiography and were categorized into four groups according to the presence of CAD and T2DM (control, CAD, T2DM and CAD+T2DM). Serum levels of CTRP9, adiponectin, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, sE-Selectin, IL-6 and TNF-α were measured. It was found that the circulating CTRP9 levels were independently associated with increased risk of CAD and T2DM in addition to elevated levels of serum CTRP9 in CAD, T2DM and CAD+T2DM groups. A significant association of serum CTRP9 levels with adhesion molecules in CAD and T2DM patients as well as serum TNF-α levels in CAD individuals was noted. A significant relation between the circulating levels of CTRP9 and HOMA-IR in T2DM subjects was also observed. The results revealed increased circulating levels of CTRP9 in T2DM and CAD individuals which suggests a compensatory response to insulin resistance, inflammatory milieu and endothelial dysfunction; however, more studies are needed to confirm this.

Adipocytokines may be involved in multiple sclerosis (MS) as well as other autoimmune and inflammatory-related diseases. This study aims to compare levels of resistin, visfatin and leptin in three subgroups of MS patients with healthy subjects and also to study their relationship with Foxp3 expression and levels of several pro-inflammatory mediators such as interleukine-1 β(IL-1 β),tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and human sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). A total of 391 subjects including 200 healthy controls and 191 MS patients were recruited for this case-control study. Circulating adipocytokines and inflammatory mediators were measured using immunoassay methods. Foxp3 gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Fat tissue mass was evaluated by using dual energy X-ray absorptiometery (DEXA). A significant difference was observed in levels of inflammatory mediators, adipocytokines, Foxp3 gene expression and adipose tissue mass between MS patients and healthy controls. All adipocytokines were positively correlated with levels of inflammatory mediators and negatively correlated with Foxp3 expression in MS patients. In controls, there were positive correlations between circulating leptin and resistin with TNF-α and IL-1β in subgroup analysis, the highest levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, hs-CRP, resistin and leptin were observed in primary progressive-MS (PP-MS) patients. Also, expression of Foxp3 and levels of visfatin in relapsing remitting-MS(RR-MS) patients were higher compared with the other subgroups. Our findings suggest the potential role of adipocytokines in pathogenesis and severity of MS. Notably, the relationship of adipocytokines levels with inflammatory cytokines as well as clinical features of MS could be considerable in translational medicine and biomarker studies.

Background: There is controversial data on the effects of prebiotic, probiotic, or synbiotic supplementations on overweight/obesity indicators. Thus, we aimed to clarify this role of biotics through an umbrella review of the trials’ meta-analyses.Methods: All meta-analyses of the clinical trials conducted on the impact of biotics on overweight/obesity indicators in general populations, pregnant women, and infants published until June 2023 in PubMed, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Embase, and Cochrane Library web databases included. The meta-analysis of observational and systematic review studies without meta-analysis were excluded. We reported the results by implementing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) flowchart. The Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR2) and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) systems were used to assess the methodological quality and quality of evidence.Results: Overall, 97 meta-analysis studies were included. Most studies were conducted on the effect of probiotics in both genders. Consumption of prebiotic: 8-66 g/day, probiotic: 10⁴ -1.35×10¹⁵ colony-forming unit (CFU)/day, and synbiotic: 10⁶-1.5×10¹¹ CFU/day and 0.5-300 g/day for 2 to 104 weeks showed a favorable effect on the overweight/obesity indicators. Moreover, an inverse association was observed between biotics consumption and overweight/obesity risk in adults in most of the studies. Biotics did not show any beneficial effect on weight and body mass index (BMI) in pregnant women by 6.6×10⁵-10¹⁰ CFU/day of probiotics during 1-25 weeks and 1×10⁹-112.5×10⁹ CFU/capsule of synbiotics during 4-8 weeks. The effect of biotics on weight and BMI in infants is predominantly non-significant. Prebiotics and probiotics used in infancy were from 0.15 to 0.8 g/dL and 2×10⁶-6×10⁹ CFU/day for 2-24 weeks, respectively.Conclusion: It seems biotics consumption can result in favorable impacts on some anthropometric indices of overweight/obesity (body weight, BMI, waist circumference) in the general population, without any significant effects on birth weight or weight gain during pregnancy and infancy. So, it is recommended to intake the biotics as complementary medications for reducing anthropometric indices of overweight/obese adults. However, more well-designed trials are needed to elucidate the anti-obesity effects of specific strains of probiotics.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether global levels of DNA methylation status were associated with albuminuria and progression of diabetic nephropathy in a case-control study of 123 patients with type 2 diabetes- 53 patients with albuminuria and 70 patients without albuminuria. Methods: The 5-methyl cytosine content was assessed by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to determine individual global DNA methylation status in two groups. Results: Global DNA methylation levels were significantly higher in patients with albuminuria compared with those in normal range of albuminuria (p = 0.01). There were significant differences in global levels of DNA methylation in relation to albuminuria (p = 0.028) and an interesting pattern of increasing global levels of DNA methylation in terms of albuminuria severity. In patients with micro- and macro albuminuria, we found no significant correlations between global DNA methylation levels and duration of diabetes (p > 0.05). In both sub groups, there were not significant differences between global DNA methylation levels with good and poor glycaemic control (p > 0.05). In addition, in patients with albuminuria, no differences in DNA methylation levels were observed between patients with and without other risk factors including age, gender, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity. Conclusions: These data may be helpful in further studies to develop novel biomarkers and new strategies for clinical care of patients at risk of diabetic nephropathy.