Are hepatic steatosis and carotid intima media thickness associated in obese patients with normal or slightly elevated gamma-glutamyltransferase?

Background: Hepatic steatosis (HS) has been associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS), conditions carrying a high risk of coronary artery disease. We aimed to determine whether HS was an independent factor of atherogenic risk beyond its association with MS and its components. Methods: We assessed the circulating levels of the heat shock protein-70 (HSP-70), a chaperone involved in inflammation, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis at liver and endothelial level and the gamma-glutamyl transferase activity (gamma-GT) correlating them to carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), along with lipid profile, HOMA, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, ferritin, adiposity type as well as spleen volume in 52 obese pts with grade 1, 128 with grade 2, and 20 with grade 3 of HS evaluated by sonography. Results: Patients with different grade of HS demonstrated overlapping HSP-70 levels; similarly performed obese subjects regarding IMT. Using multiple regression analysis, IMT was predicted by age, visceral adiposity and by HOMA (beta = 0.50, rho < 0.0001, beta = 0.30, rho = 0.01 and beta = 0.18, rho = 0.048 respectively, while the severity of HS was predicted by visceral and subcutaneous adiposity and HOMA (beta = 0.50, rho < 0.0001 and beta = 0.27, rho = 0.001 and beta = 0.18, rho = 0.024, respectively). Conclusion: In our series of patients with normal or mild elevation of gamma-GT, the severity of HS does not entail higher IMT, which may be linked to MS stigmata.