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Levels of acylation stimulating protein in obese women before and after moderate weight loss.

Acylation stimulating protein (ASP) is a small (MW 14,000) basic (pI 9.0) protein which has only recently been purified from human plasma. Since ASP is the most potent known stimulant of triglyceride synthesis in human adipose tissue, the present study was designed to determine if plasma ASP was elevated in patients with moderate obesity, and if so, whether this level changed with weight loss. Fasting plasma ASP levels were determined by competitive ELISA immunoassay in 10 obese women before weight loss, immediately after weight loss, and 3 months after maintaining weight reduction. Their plasma ASP results were compared to 17 age and sex-matched lean controls. With weight loss, plasma ASP decreased significantly: 19.6 +/- 10.7 mg/dl before weight loss vs 15.0 +/- 9.5 mg/dl after weight loss vs 13.8 +/- 7.7 mg/dl 3 months after being weight stable, P less than 0.05 initial vs final value. Nevertheless, plasma ASP was significantly higher than the control value at all three times. Thus, before weight loss, the average ASP in the obese group was four times that in the control group (19.6 +/- 10.7 vs 5.1 +/- 3.6 mg/dl, P less than 0.0005) while even 3 months after weight loss, it remained almost three times above the control group (13.8 +/- 7.7 vs 5.1 +/- 3.6 mg/dl, P less than 0.0005). The data suggest, therefore, that an elevated plasma level of ASP is common in obesity, that the level of plasma ASP may reflect the fat cell mass present in an individual, and raises the possibilities that ASP may play a role in initiation or maintenance of the obese state.