Evidence Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2021; 12(3): 206-214
Published online Mar 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i3.206
Progress on haptoglobin and metabolic diseases
Bao-Nian Wan, Shi-Gao Zhou, Miao Wang, Xiao Zhang, Guang Ji
Bao-Nian Wan, Shi-Gao Zhou, Miao Wang, Xiao Zhang, Department of TCM Demonstration, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Guang Ji, Institute of Digestive Disease, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Author contributions: Wan BN performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript; Zhou SG and Wang M contributed to the conception of the review; Zhang X helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; Ji G contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript preparation.
Supported by Shanghai Three-year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. ZY (2018-2020)-FWTX-6005; and Clinical Research Plan of SHDC, No. SHDC12017X16.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guang Ji, MD, Chairman, Institute of Digestive Disease, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 725 Wanping South Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200032, China. jiliver@vip.sina.com
Received: September 1, 2020
Peer-review started: September 1, 2020
First decision: December 1, 2020
Revised: December 16, 2020
Accepted: December 22, 2020
Article in press: December 22, 2020
Published online: March 15, 2021
Abstract

Haptoglobin (Hp) is an acidic glycoprotein, existing in the serum and other body fluids of human beings and a variety of mammals. Hp is produced in the liver, white adipose tissue, and the kidney. The genetic polymorphisms and different phenotypes of Hp have different biological functions. Hp has antibacterial, antioxidant, and angiogenic effects and is associated with multiple diseases including simple obesity, vascular complications of diabetes mellitus, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension, blood diseases, autoimmune diseases, and malignant tumors. Hp also participates in many life activities, indicating the importance of Hp in further studies. Previously, we found that the expression of serum Hp changed after treatment of simple obesity patients in clinical trials. However, the specific mechanism of Hp in patients with simple obesity is still unclear. The purpose of this article is to introduce recent research progress on Hp, emphasizing the relationship between Hp and the development of metabolic disease, which will improve the understanding of the functions of Hp underlying metabolic diseases and discuss future research directions.

Keywords: Haptoglobin, Polymorphism, Metabolic diseases, Simple obesity, Inflammation, CD163

Core Tip: Although there are a large number of articles and reviews on metabolic diseases every year involving epidemiology, therapies, comparisons of treatment methods, health strategies, and comorbidities, data on different treatment methods are still limited. The current research focus is the relationship between haptoglobin (Hp) and the development of metabolic diseases, the warning effect of Hp for metabolic diseases, and the latest research progress on haptoglobin. Through this review, our ideas and future research directions will be made clearer.