Figure 3.

(a) Serum levels of retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) in study groups; (b) correlation between RBP4 and afamin in overall subjects; (c) plasma levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in study groups; and (d) correlation between PAI-1 and afamin in overall subjects. Differences between study groups are analyzed using one-way ANOVA (RBP4) and the Kruskal-Wallis H test (PAI-1), respectively. Green dots represent healthy lean subjects (n = 49), orange dots represent non-diabetic obese patients (NDO; n = 106), and red triangles represent patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM; n = 62). Afamin and RBP4 concentrations were quantified from peripheral blood serum samples, whereas PAI-1 levels were measured from peripheral blood EDTA-coagulated plasmas with commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassays.