Susceptibility of Human Plasma N-glycome to Low-Calorie and Different Weight-Maintenance Diets

Aberrant plasma protein glycosylation is associated with a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular, and immunological disorders. To investigate plasma protein glycosylation alterations due to weight loss and successive weight-maintenance diets, 1850 glycomes from participants of the Diogenes study were analyzed using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC). The Diogenes study is a large dietary intervention study in which participants were subjected to a low-calorie diet (LCD) followed by one of five different weight-maintenance diets in a period of 6 months. The most notable alterations of the plasma glycome were 8 weeks after the subjects engaged in the LCD; a significant increase in low-branched glycan structures, accompanied by a decrease in high-branched glycan structures. After the LCD period, there was also a significant rise in N-glycan structures with antennary fucose. Interestingly, we did not observe significant changes between different diets, and almost all effects we observed immediately after the LCD period were annulled during the weight-maintenance diets period.