Moreover, we observed that the sDLK1 ratio ([PF]/[P]) correlated with that of metabolic syndrome markers associated with cardiovascular disease,23, 24 including soluble Tweak (r = 0.3175, p < .0001), Adiponectin (r = 0.4689, p = .002), A‐FABP (r = 0.3332, p < .0001), lipocalin 2 (r = 0.3175, p = .0166) and hs‐CRP (r = −0.2320, p = .0009), but not total protein, leptin, proteinase 3, BNP and elastase (data not shown). The gene discussed is LCN2; the disease is metabolic syndrome.