title: Serum leptin and interleukin-6 levels in pediatric patients with HIV.
abstract: Recent therapeutic approaches have improved the prognosis of children with HIV. Many new efforts could be involved in their quality of life and therefore could need additional diagnostic strategies. Leptin regulates pubertal development; furthermore a continuous immune stimulus, as in chronic infectious diseases, can enhance leptin's secretion by the action of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-6. To clarify this role in patients infected with HIV, we assayed leptin and IL-6 and evaluated the influence of HIV severity on its secretion. IL-6 (380.5 +/- 257.6 pg/ml; range: 22-900 pg/ml) showed a significant correlation with leptinemia, HIV-1 RNA, and viremia related to the stage of HIV disease. The difference in leptinemia from a control group (3 +/- 3.2 ng/ml; range: 1-12 ng/ml in HIV patients; 6.72 +/- 8 ng/ml in the controls) did not reach statistical significance, nor did it correlate with pubertal stage, BMI, viremia, CD4 or anti-retroviral therapy. There was a statistically significant correlation between leptinemia and the stage of the HIV disease, and with IL-6 level. We want to stress the role of immunological factors in enhancing leptin secretion.
authors.affiliation: Department Materno-Infantile, Children's Hospital G. Di Cristina , Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liotta
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Maggio
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teresi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guicciardino
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Miraglia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Titone
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D054411:Receptors, Leptin; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D015850:Interleukin-6; C515448:LEPR protein, human; D020738:Leptin; D054411:Receptors, Leptin