Adiponectin Multimeric Complexes and the Metabolic Syndrome Trait Cluster

Adiponectin circulates in human plasma mainly as a 180-kDa low molecular weight (LMW) hexamer and a high molecular weight (HMW) multimer of ∼360 kDa. We comprehensively examined the relationships between circulating levels of total adiponectin, adiponectin multimers, and the relative distribution (i.e., ratio) of multimeric forms with key features of the metabolic syndrome. Total adiponectin (r = 0.45), HMW (r = 0.47), LMW (r = 0.31), and...