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. HYPOTHESIS: To test whether the proinflammatory state is reversible in subjects undergoing weight loss by surgical measures. SUBJECTS AND 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 I 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.