Obestatin is not elevated or correlated with insulin in children with Prader-Willi syndrome

Obestatin is a peptide hormone derived from the proteolytic cleavage of ghrelin preprohormone. In Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), the levels of total ghrelin (TG) and acylated ghrelin (AG) are increased, and these hormones are regulated by insulin.

Our objective was to analyze the changes in the obestatin levels after glucose loading and to characterize the correlations of obestatin with TG, AG, and insulin.

Plasma obestatin, TG, AG, and insulin levels were measured in PWS children (n = 15) and controls (n = 18) during an oral glucose tolerance test.

All subjects were admitted to the Samsung Medical Center.

An oral glucose tolerance test was performed after an overnight fast.

The plasma levels of obestatin, TG, AG, and serum insulin were measured at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after glucose challenge, and areas under the curves (AUCs) were calculated.

No significant difference in AUC of the plasma obestatin was found between the PWS children and normal obese controls (P = 0.885), although AUC of AG (P = 0.002) and TG (P = 0.003) were increased in the PWS children. Moreover, There was a negative correlation between the AUC of AG and AUC of insulin both in PWS (r = -0.432; P = 0.049) and in controls (r = -0.507; P = 0.016). However, AUC of obestatin was not significantly correlated with AUC of insulin (in PWS, r = 0.168 and P = 0.275; in controls, r = -0.331 and P = 0.09).

Our results indicate that plasma obestatin is not elevated in PWS children and is not regulated by insulin both in PWS children and in obese controls.