Diabetologie und Stoffwechsel 2015; 10 - P288
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1549794

The role of BMP2 in the pathophysiology of obesity

M Unthan 1, E Guiu-Jurado 2, K Ruschke 3, D Schleinitz 1, M Kern 4, B Gutsmann 1, N Klöting 1, A Tönjes 4, M Stumvoll 1, 4, P Kovacs 1, M Blüher 1, 4
  • 1IFB Adiposity Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
  • 2Department of Medicine and Surgery, University Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
  • 3Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 4Department of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Aims: Besides its known functions in the embryonic development the Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP2) may affect adipogenesis and pancreatic β cell development.

Our aim was to investigate the potential role of BMP2 in the pathophysiology of obesity and related traits.

Subjects and methods: Circulating BMP2 levels were measured by ELISA (Cloud-Clone Corp.(USCN)) in a subset of serum samples from subjects derived from two phenotypically well characterized cohorts: the Sorbs (n = 638) and the Leipzig cohort (n = 489).

Furthermore, we measured BMP2 mRNA expression by qRT-PCR in 632 paired samples of human subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue from the Leipzig cohort.

We conducted correlation analyses as well as genetic association studies to test the relationship between circulating BMP2, mRNA levels in adipose tissue and metabolic traits.

Results: BMP2 serum levels were significantly lower in obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2, n = 473) compared to lean subjects (BMI < 25 kg/m2, n = 265; p< 0.01 adjusted for age and sex). Consistently, circulating BMP2 correlated negatively with BMI, waist circumference and Waist- to- Height- Ratio (WHtR) in both cohorts (adj. p< 0.05).

Furthermore, BMP2 mRNA expression in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue correlated positively with BMI (n = 505; adj. p< 0.001) and other traits like WHR (n = 117; adj. p< 0.01), waist circumference (adj. p< 0.001) and circulating blood lipids (n = 110; adj. p< 0.05).

Conclusions/interpretation: Our data suggests that BMP2 is related to the pathophysiology of obesity.