Maternal Circulating Leptin, Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha, and Interleukine-6 in Association With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Publisher Pubmed



Hosseini E¹ ; Mokhtari Z¹ ; Salehi Abargouei A^{2, 3} ; Mishra GD⁴ ; Amani R¹
Source: Gynecological Endocrinology Published:2023

Abstract

Background: Over the last decade, an emerging role of novel cytokines in the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been proposed. The present study was implemented to provide a more accurate estimate of the effect size of the association between leptin, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the risk of GDM.Methods: Online databases were looked up to January 2023 using the search string: (leptin OR TNF-α OR IL-6) AND “gestational diabetes.” Observational studies investigating the association of selected cytokines and GDM risk were included. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted and random-effects models were used to estimate the pooled effect.Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the meta-analysis. A significant association was found between higher circulating leptin and the risk of GDM and the pooled estimate was 1.16 (95%CI: 1.07, 1.27). Higher circulating levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were associated with increased risk of GDM, and the pooled estimates were 1.35 (95%CI: 1.05, 1.73) and 1.28 (95%CI: 1.01, 1.62), respectively.Conclusions: The studied cytokines could be implicated in the GDM pathogenesis and used as potential biomarkers for assessing the GDM risk. Additional longitudinal studies with large sample sizes are needed for a further evaluation of these findings. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.