Markers of chronic inflammation and obesity: a prospective study on the reversibility of this association in middle-aged women undergoing weight loss by surgical intervention.

BACKGROUND

Human adipose tissue expresses and releases proinflammatory cytokines and these measures of chronic inflammation have recently been associated with obesity.

OBJECTIVE

To test whether the proinflammatory state is reversible in subjects undergoing weight loss by surgical measures.

METHODS

Twenty morbidly obese women participated in this prospective study. Subjects were examined for fat mass, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) before and 1 y after Swedish adjustable gastric banding.

RESULTS

Anthropometric measures displayed a significant reduction of the body mass index (BMI) from 41.6+/-5.4 to 30.8+/-6.1 kg/m(2) and the fat mass from 53.9+/-10.3 to 29.8+/-12.1 kg (mean+/-s.d.). Hs-CRP levels decreased significantly from 1.33+/-1.21 mg/dl in pre-gastric banding subjects to 0.40+/-0.61 mg/dl in post-gastric banding subjects, respectively. IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels did not differ significantly between pre- and post-gastric banding subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

We speculate that in these patients the marked reduction in C-reactive protein might be beneficial in reducing their cardiovascular risk and is not solely mediated by IL-6 and TNF-alpha.