Circulating concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 are associated with menopause status in Korean women

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) plays a role in adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. Human circulating MCP-1 concentrations reportedly increase or remain unchanged according to obesity or insulin resistance in various ethnic populations; whether or not circulating MCP-1 concentrations increase after menopause has remained unclear.

We investigated the relationship between circulating MCP-1 concentrations and obesity or insulin resistance, and the relationship between circulating MCP-1 and menopause status in premenopausal (n=111) and postmenopausal (n=64) Korean women.

Circulating MCP-1 concentrations were significantly higher in postmenopausal women than in obesity-matched premenopausal women; they did not differ between non-obese and obese subgroups of pre- and postmenopausal women. Circulating MCP-1 concentrations had a relationship with menopause status (rho=0.500, p=0.000), irrespective of obesity, but no relationship with obesity or insulin resistance. Circulating MCP-1 concentrations correlated with serum triglycerides (r=0.4, p=0.001) and also correlated with serum triglyceride concentrations, after adjusting for age and obesity, in postmenopausal women.

Circulating MCP-1 concentrations are associated with menopause status itself, irrespective of obesity; they do not correlate with obesity or insulin resistance in Korean women, most of whom are not severely obese.