The investigation of relationship between serum endocan levels and the other predictors of endothelial dysfunction in obese women

Endothelial dysfunction is one of the most important early change of atherosclerosis in obese individuals. High levels of systemic inflammatory markers are associated with endothelial dysfunction. Endocan (Endothelial cell spesific molecule-1, ESM-1), is a potential inflamatuary marker and has been reported to play a role in the pathophysiology of endotelial dysfunction. We aimed to assess whether serum endocan levels are correlated with the presence and severity of endothelial dysfunction and relationships with sICAM-1, adiponectin, marker of inflamation: high sensitivity c-reaktif protein (hsCRP) levels and CIMT in obese subjects. We evaluated serum endocan, sICAM-1, adiponektin, hsCRP levels and CIMT in 76 obese women (BMI˃30kg/m²) and 53 controls (BMI˂25kg/m²). sICAM-1 (p=0,01), hsCRP (p˂0,001), CIMT (p˂0,001) were significantly higher and adiponectin (p=0,006) was significanly lower in obese women than in controls. Serum endocan levels were similarly in obese (470.5± 171.3 pg/ml) and control (471.9± 146.3 pg/ml) groups (p=0,732). Serum endocan levels were not correlated with markers of endothelial dysfunction hsCRP (r=-0,021), ICAM-1 (r=-0,054), adiponectin (r=0,113) and CIMT (r=-0,060) in obesity. In conclusia we found that endocan is not a good marker of endothelial dysfunction related with obesity. Other studies are necessary in order to evaluate the role of endocan in the regulation of inflammatory processess in obesity.