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Serum cortisone and glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) polymorphism in human dysglycemia

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Abstract

Purpose

We aimed to explore the associations of serum cortisone and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) polymorphism with glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among Chinese adults.

Methods

A total of 2315 participants were included in the present study. Serum cortisone was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Multivariable logistic regression and linear regression were employed to assess the associations between serum cortisone and different glucose metabolism status.

Results

Serum cortisone was positively associated with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and T2DM ((Quartile 4 vs Quartile 1, odds ratio (OR) = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.84, and OR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.50, 2.89, respectively)). A 100% increase in cortisone was associated with a 0.015 (95% CI 0.005, 0.025) mg/dl higher fasting plasma glucose (FPG), a 0.007 (95% CI 0.001, 0.013) higher glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a 0.4% (95% CI − 0.007, 0.000) lower HOMA2-IR, and a 58.1% (95% CI − 0.788, − 0.373) lower HOMA2-β. After stratification by genotype, the association between serum cortisone and T2DM was not significant in TT genotype carriers. In addition, at the higher concentrations of cortisone, TT genotype carriers had a lower FPG, HbA1c, and HOMA2-IR and a higher HOMA2-β than GG and GT carriers.

Conclusions

Elevated serum cortisone was associated with an increased risk of IFG and T2DM, and the associations may be modified by rs9324924 polymorphism.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants, coordinators, and administrators for their supports, and laboratory for the facility support at the School of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, during the study.

Availability of data and material

The datasets and materials generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no: 2016YFC0900803, 2019YFC1710002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no: 21607136, 81573243, 21806146], the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (grant no: 2016M602264), and the Excellent Youth Development Foundation of Zhengzhou University (grant no: 2018ZDGGJS052).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Dandan Wei, Xue Liu, Linlin Li, Chongjian Wang & Zhenxing Mao

  2. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Wenqian Huo

  3. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Songcheng Yu

Authors
  1. Dandan Wei
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  2. Xue Liu
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  5. Linlin Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Dandan Wei and Xue Liu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dandan Wei and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhenxing Mao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Zhengzhou University Life Science Ethics Committee.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Informed consent for publication was obtained from all individuals included in the study.

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Wei, D., Liu, X., Huo, W. et al. Serum cortisone and glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) polymorphism in human dysglycemia. Hormones 19, 385–393 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-020-00196-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-020-00196-9

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