Anthropometric measurements before, during (1 month) and after 3 months of caloric restriction: Body composition was estimated by impedance analysis.

<p>Shown are means±SEM of n = 23 obese human subjects during a VLCD. Statistical significance was tested by student's t-test, ns = not significant.</p

wnt5a and sFRP5 serum concentrations in lean control subjects and patients with obesity.

<p>Serum samples were taken after an overnight fast and wnt5a and sFRP5 serum concentrations were measured by ELISA. Shown are means±SEM for n = 12 lean control subjects and n = 23 patients with obesity. In order to test for statistical significance, student's t-test was used, ns = not significant.</p

Adipokine, wnt5a and sFRP5 serum concentrations before, during (1 month) and after 3 months of caloric restriction.

<p>Adipokine, wnt5a and sFRP5 serum concentrations before, during (1 month) and after 3 months of caloric restriction.</p

(A+B) Insulin resistance before, during (1 month) and after 3 month of caloric restriction: In the present study insulin resistance was measured by the HOMA-IR index (A) and the leptin-to-adiponectin ration (LAR) (B) since the later parameter has been shown to be closely correlated to measures of insulin resistance by hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp experiments [<b>16</b>].

<p>Data are given as means±SEM of n = 23 obese human subjects during a VLCD. Significance was tested by student's t-test. (<b>C</b>) <i>sFRP serum concentrations before, during (1 month) and after 3 months of caloric restriction</i>: sFRP5 serum concentrations were determined before (0 month), during (1 month) and after (3 months) of a VLCD. In this figure the levels are shown as fold increase compared to 0 month. The raw data are given in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0032437#pone-0032437-t002" target="_blank">table 2</a>. Shown are means±SEM of n = 23 obese human subjects during a VLCD. t-test was used to test for statistical significance.</p

BLyS serum levels in human obesity.

<p>(A) represents significant differences between different grades of obesity (grade 1+2 (BMI≥30 to <40 kg/m²), n = 20 and grade 3 (BMI≥40 kg/m²), n = 42) and normal-weight ((BMI≤25 kg/m²), n = 10) human control subjects. (B) shows the correlation (<i>r</i> = 0.43, p<0.0002) between BLyS serum levels and BMI of n = 72 human subjects used in this study. Data in this figure are shown as means+SD.</p

Baseline characteristics of the study populations of the BLyS mRNA in human total adipose tissue biopsies of lean, grade 3 obese +/− insulin resistance (IR) and of BLyS measurements in sera of lean, grade 1+2 obese +/− insulin resistance.

<p>t₁: lean vs. obese.</p><p>t₂: lean vs. obese+IR.</p><p>t₃: obese vs. obese+IR.</p><p>Shown are means+SD for each group.</p

BLyS mRNA level in (A) visceral and (B) subcutaneous adipose tissue of lean control subjects, patients with grade 3 obesity +/− type 2 diabetes (T2D).

<p>RNA was isolated from total subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue biopsies. Data in this figure are shown as means+SD. (C) shows a significant negative correlation between age and BLyS expression (<i>r</i> = −0.48, p<0.0001) in a combined analysis of all biopsy samples.</p