Exploring the Role of Adipocyte Fatty Acid Binding Protein in the Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Dysfunction

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Inflammation; Insulin Resistance; Metabolic Syndrome; Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Treatments: Device: continuous positive airway pressure

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01173432

UW07-178

HKCTR-770 (Registry Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) is a member of the FABP super family, is abundant in adipocytes and macrophages. Regulatory functions of A-FABP in lipid and glucose metabolism have been described, and it is suggested to play an important role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome.We hypothesize that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may upregulate A-FABP production and thus causally contribute to metabolic dysfunction. Our group has recently demonstrated that A-FABP, expressed and secreted from adipocytes, is present in the blood stream .The levels of A-FABP correlated with various metabolic variates in the metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, we have obtained novel data in men with a range of sleep disordered breathing showed that the duration of oxygen desaturation correlated with circulating levels of A-FABP, independent of age and waist/body mass index. The current proposal aims to pursue this finding and further explore the role of A-FABP in the association of OSA and metabolic dysfunction.

Full description

We hypothesize that there are changes in circulating A-FABP level which can be mitigated by effective treatment of OSA.

The aim is to investigate the effect of CPAP treatment of OSA on circulating A-FABP, and other metabolic biomarkers and cardiovascular parameters

Enrollment: 90 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Subjects between 18 - 65 years old
• Able to understand and give informed written consent

Exclusion criteria

• BMI > 35 kg/m2, and features of obesity hypoventilation syndrome
• known diabetes mellitus or hyperlipidemia on treatment
• known cardiovascular disease except hypertension stable on treatment
• unstable medical illness
• need for starting treatment for OSA or other medical conditions immediately

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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90 participants in 2 patient groups

continuous positive airway pressure

Active Comparator group

Description:

using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device during sleep, for the study period (4 weeks)

Treatment:

Device: continuous positive airway pressure

control

No Intervention group

Description:

observation for the study period (4 weeks, no CPAP)