Circulating soluble CD36 is associated with glucose metabolism and interleukin-6 in glucose-intolerant men

Recently, soluble CD36 (sCD36) levels were reported to be elevated in type 2 diabetes, and to be tightly correlated with insulin resistance. Our aim was to obtain further insight into the relationship between insulin sensitivity, low-grade inflammation and sCD36. We studied glucose-tolerant (n=90) and glucose-intolerant (n=57) moderately obese men. Insulin sensitivity was measured by the frequent sample intravenous glucose tolerance test, and sCD36 by an in-house ELISA assay. In glucose-intolerant subjects, sCD36 was negatively associated with insulin sensitivity and positively with interleukin-6 (IL-6), fasting glucose, fasting triglycerides, fat-free mass and platelet count. On multiple linear regression analyses, insulin sensitivity contributed 22% of sCD36 variance, independent of age, body mass index (BMI) and IL-6, in glucose-intolerant subjects. The level of sCD36 in subjects with glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) above the mean was higher than in those with HbA1C values below the mean. Insulin sensitivity is a predictor of sCD36 in men with impaired glucose tolerance. IL-6 is related to sCD36 but does not predict sCD36 independent of insulin sensitivity and BMI.