Method for analyzing the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue

1. A method for analyzing an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in a test animal comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing a test solution comprising body fluids, tissue or cells of said test animal;

(b) determining a concentration of a protein in the test solution, wherein the protein comprises

(1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or

(2) an amino acid sequence which is recognized by an antibody against a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; and

(c) determining the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in said test animal by comparing the concentration of protein from step (b) with an amount of said protein from a control animal having a known amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue, wherein said control animal is of the same species as the test animal.

2. The method according to claim 1 or 8 , wherein the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue corresponds to the area of intraabdominal adipose tissue in a section of the abdomen.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of:

(d) determining in advance a linear function which expresses a correlation between the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue of the control animal and the concentration of the protein in a test solution comprising body fluids, tissue, or cells of said control animal; and

(e) applying a value of the concentration of the protein of said test animal to the linear function determined in step (d) and calculating the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in the test animal.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 8 , wherein the concentration of protein in the test solution is determined by an immunochemical analysis.

5. A method for determining an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in a test animal based upon a correlation between the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue and a concentration of a protein in a test solution comprising body fluids, tissue or cells of the test animal, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining in advance a linear function which expresses a correlation between the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue of a control animal and the concentration of the protein in a test solution comprising body fluids, tissues, or cells of the control animal; and

(b) applying a value of the concentration of the protein of said test animal to the linear function determined in step (a) and calculating the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in said test animal,

wherein the protein comprises

(1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or

(2) an amino acid sequence which is recognized by an antibody against a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and

wherein said control animal is of the same species as the test animal.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 5 , wherein the concentration of the protein in the test solution is determined by an immunochemical analysis.

7. The method according to claim 1 , 5 , or 8 , wherein the test animal is a mammal.

8. A method for analyzing an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in a test animal comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing a test solution comprising blood of a test animal;

(b) determining a concentration of a protein in the test solution, wherein the protein comprises

(1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or

(2) an amino acid sequence which is recognized by an antibody against a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; and

(c) determining the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in said test animal by comparing the concentration of protein from step (b) with an amount of said protein from a control animal having a known amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue, wherein said control animal is of the same species as the test animal.

9. An examination method comprising:

predicting risk of onset of a disease closely related to an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue or judging recovery of a disease in an individual of a test animal, based on examining the increasing or decreasing amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue of said individual for a predetermined period by the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or 8 .

10. An examination method comprising:

determining an amount of intraabdominal tissue in a test animal with a method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or 8 ;

comparing the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in said test animal to the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in a healthy animal of the same species; and

predicting risk of onset of a disease closely related to an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue or judging recovery of a disease in an individual of said test animal.

11. A kit comprising a protein as a standard for analyzing an amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in an animal, wherein the protein comprises (1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or (2) an amino acid sequence which is recognized by an antibody against a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

12. The kit according to claim 11 , further comprising an antibody which recognizes a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

13. The method according to claim 8 , wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of:

(d) determining in advance a linear function which expresses a correlation between the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue of the control animal and the concentration of the protein in a test solution comprising body fluids, tissue, or cells of said control animal; and

(e) applying a value of the concentration of the protein of said test animal to the linear function determined in step (d) and calculating the amount of intraabdominal adipose tissue in the test animal.