Peripheral Insulin Resistance Is Associated with Copeptin in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
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Kidney360 Publish Ahead of Print, published on July 8, 2021 as doi:10.34067/KID.0002622021 Peripheral insulin resistance is associated with copeptin in patients with chronic kidney disease Juan Pablo Arroyo1*, Elvis A. Akwo1*, Andrew S. Terker1, Aseel Alsouqi1, Gautam Bhave1, Raymond C. Harris1, Adriana M. Hung1, T. Alp Ikizler1 1Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee * These authors contributed equally Address correspondence to: T. Alp Ikizler M.D. Division of Nephrology Vanderbilt University Medical Center S-3223 Medical Center North 1161 21st Ave South Nashville, TN 37232-2372 Phone 615-343-2220 | Fax 615-343-7156 Copyright 2021 by American Society of Nephrology. Key Points We found that in non-diabetic patients with CKD 3-4 elevated levels of copeptin are associated with peripheral insulin resistance. We found no correlation between copeptin levels and hepatic insulin resistance in patients with CKD 3-4 or in our control group. Further research is warranted to establish potential mechanistic links between vasopressin and peripheral insulin resistance in CKD. Abstract Background – Insulin resistance is associated to cardiovascular disease risk and worsened kidney function. Patients with CKD have higher levels of insulin resistance. Elevated levels of copeptin (a surrogate for vasopressin levels), has been associated to increased incidence and progression of CKD as well as incident diabetes mellitus. The purpose of our study was to study the relationship between insulin resistance, copeptin, and CKD. Methods - We performed a cross-sectional study to investigate if insulin resistance was associated with higher copeptin levels in non-diabetic patients with stage 3-4 CKD vs controls. We measured plasma copeptin levels and utilized data from 52 patients with stage 3-4 CKD and 85 controls (eGFR ≥ 60mL/min/1.73m2) enrolled in The Insulin Resistance in Chronic Kidney Disease (IRCKD) study. We then used a multivariable linear regression model to assess the independent relationship between peripheral or hepatic insulin resistance and copeptin across levels of eGFR. Results – We found that in patients with CKD (eGFR 30-60 mL/min/1.73m2), but not in controls, peripheral insulin resistance was significantly correlated with higher levels of log copeptin (r = - 0.21, p = 0.04). In patients with CKD when adjusted for age, sex, BMI, serum osmolality, log IL6, and log leptin-adiponectin ratio, each 1 SD decrease in insulin sensitivity was associated to a 38.9% increase in serum copeptin levels. The relationship between hepatic insulin resistance, copeptin, and eGFR is similar between controls and patients with reduced eGFR. Conclusion –Peripheral insulin resistance is associated with elevated copeptin levels in non- diabetic patients with stage 3-4 CKD. Further research into how the interaction between peripheral insulin resistance and elevated vasopressin impacts CKD progression could be of interest. Introduction Patients with CKD have more insulin resistance (IR) than what is observed in matched individuals without kidney disease.1 Prior data suggests that insulin resistance can hasten the development of kidney disease.2 Moreover, insulin resistance is associated with cardiovascular disease risk and this relationship is magnified in patients with CKD.3 Therefore, mechanistic insights into how insulin resistance and CKD interact could have far-reaching implications and aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies. The etiology of insulin resistance seen in patients with CKD is believed to be multifactorial including genetic variants, physical inactivity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and adipokine derangements. Insulin resistance in CKD is driven primarily by defective glucose uptake in fat and skeletal muscle, but the identification of discrete, modifiable signaling pathways has remained elusive. 1, 4 Vasopressin is the nine amino-acid peptide hormone end-product of a highly processed 164 amino acid pre-pro-peptide. Vasopressin levels are elevated in patients with CKD, however the mechanisms that lead to elevated vasopressin levels remain incompletely explained.5 High vasopressin levels have been associated with both increased incidence and progression of CKD from various etiologies. 6-8 Elevated levels of copeptin (the C-terminal product of the vasopressin precursor protein, a surrogate for vasopressin levels) correlate with albuminuria and incident diabetes mellitus (DM). 6, 9-11 In healthy subjects, the infusion of vasopressin increased plasma glucose and glucose infusion led to decreased vasopressin levels within minutes, despite increased serum osmolality 10-12. More recently, vasopressin has been implicated in the development of fructose-induced metabolic syndrome.13 Together, these data suggest that vasopressin plays a key role in glucose-insulin homeostasis. In spite of the extensive data on the link between vasopressin and glucose homeostasis, whether insulin resistance is associated to elevated levels of vasopressin in patients with CKD has never been studied. We hypothesized that patients with CKD and insulin resistance would have higher copeptin levels than either CKD patients with no insulin resistance or patients with insulin resistance and no CKD. Therefore, we performed a cross-sectional study to investigate if insulin resistance was associated with higher levels of copeptin levels in non-diabetic patients with stage 3-4 CKD vs controls. Methods Design and Study Sample We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from 52 patients with CKD stages 3-4 and 85 controls (eGFR ≥ 60mL/min/1.73m2) enrolled in The Insulin Resistance in Chronic Kidney Disease (IRCKD) study. Study participants were recruited from the Nashville Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) outpatient clinics. All study participants were non-diabetic and had a body mass index (BMI) greater >18 kg/m2 at enrollment. Diabetes was ascertained based on medical history, anti-diabetic medication use, glycated hemoglobin (≥6.5%) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG ≥126mg/dL). In the CKD group, we included patients aged ≥ 18 years, with eGFR less than 60 mL/min/1.73m2, less that 5g/24 hours of proteinuria, who had blood pressure (BP) < 160/100 mmHg, with no change in their blood pressure (BP) medications 1 month prior to enrollment. Controls were aged 30-80 years, with an eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73m2, no proteinuria, and baseline blood pressure (BP) values < 160/100 mmHg. We excluded pregnant or breastfeeding women, patients on any insulin sensitizer or medication for treatment of metabolic syndrome, patients with decompensated heart failure or those who had an acute CVD event in the last 6 months. We also excluded patients who had received systemic glucocorticoids or immunomodulators within one month of enrollment in the study or had active or severe inflammatory diseases. The study was approved by the VUMC and VA institutional review boards and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Study Protocol Hyperinsulinemic Euglycemic Clamp Whole-body glucose disposal was evaluated using a glucose clamp after an eight-hour overnight fast as originally described by DeFronzo14. Blood was drawn, and two peripheral IV’s were placed in both upper extremities. In order to suppress hepatic gluconeogenesis and augment skeletal and adipose glucose uptake, human regular insulin (50 units/ 50 mL of 0.9% saline) was infused at a rate of 80mU/m2/min for CKD patients and 40mU/m2/min for control participants. Additionally, 20% dextrose and potassium phosphate were infused to maintain blood glucose concentrations between 90 – 105 mg/dL and prevent insulin induced hypokalemia. Glucose was checked every five minutes. Steady-state was achieved when blood glucose readings remained stable (less than 10% variation between readings) for over 30 minutes and there were no changes to the glucose infusion rate. In steady-state conditions, the amount of glucose infused is equal to the amount of glucose taken up by the tissue or “M”. The M-value was normalized to body weight and used to calculate the Insulin Sensitivity Index (ISI). Blood was collected at regular intervals during the clamp procedure. Predictors and covariates The main predictors for this study were peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity calculated using clamp-derived ISI and HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance) respectively. Insulin sensitivity index was calculated as: M/(G x ΔI) 15, where M is the glucose disposal rate in mg/kg/min = (dextrose infusion rate at steady state in mL/hour x 184) / (weight in kg) x 60); G = mean steady state glucose concentration in mg/dL; and ΔI is the difference in plasma insulin concentrations at the beginning and the end of the steady state period measured in µU/mL. HOMA-IR was calculated as: Fasting serum insulin (µU/mL) x Fasting serum glucose (mg/dL)/405. 16-19 Covariates included demographics (age and sex), eGFR, BMI [weight (Kg)/height (m) 2], inflammatory markers (hsCRP and IL6), serum osmolality, adiponectin, and leptin. eGFR was calculated using the chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation 20 . Participants were classified as being obese based on the WHO classification (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and CKD was defined as eGFR < 60mL/min/1.73m2. Serum osmolality was calculated as follows: Serum Osm = (Na+ x 2) + (Urea/2.8) +(Glucose/18).21 Values for Na+ (mEq/L), Glucose (mg/dL), and BUN (md/dL) were