Circulating levels of leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin in inflammatory bowel disease.
BACKGROUND
There is evidence that adipocytokines play an important role in metabolism and in inflammation. Because human metabolism dramatically changes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronic inflammation is the hallmark of the disease, we studied serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in comparison with healthy controls (HC).


METHODS
Leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and active ghrelin serum levels were measured in 100 IBD patients (46 UC and 54 CD) and in 60 matched HC using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin levels were correlated with disease activity, type, localization, and treatment.


RESULTS
Mean serum leptin levels were 10.6+/-2.0 ng/mL in UC patients, 12.5+/-2.6 ng/mL in CD patients, and 15.0+/-1.8 ng/mL in HC (P=.01). Mean serum adiponectin levels were 9514.8+/-787.8 ng/mL in UC patients, 7651.1+/-613 ng/mL in CD patients, and 7270.6+/-559.4 ng/mL in HC (P=.05). Mean serum resistin levels were 21.2+/-2.2 ng/mL in UC patients, 18.7+/-1.6 ng/mL in CD patients and 11.8+/-0.6 ng/mL in HC (P=.0002). Mean serum ghrelin levels were 48.2+/-4.2 pg/mL in UC patients, 49.4+/-4.6 pg/mL in CD patients and 14.8+/-3.0 pg/mL in HC (P<.0001). Serum levels of these adipocytokines were not correlated with either C-reactive protein levels or the clinical indices of activity. No association between serum adipocytokines levels and disease localization in both UC and CD patients was found. Only serum ghrelin was significantly higher in ileal compared with colonic CD (P=.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Serum levels of adiponectin, resistin, and active ghrelin are increased whereas serum levels of leptin are decreased in patients with IBD. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of adipocytokines in IBD.
Karmiris
Konstantinos
K
Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Koutroubakis
Ioannis E
IE
Xidakis
Costas
C
Polychronaki
Maria
M
Voudouri
Theodora
T
Kouroumalis
Elias A
EA
D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D054439:Ghrelin; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036361:Peptide Hormones / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D052243:Resistin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D052242:Adiponectin; D015415:Biomarkers; D054439:Ghrelin; D020738:Leptin; D036361:Peptide Hormones; D052243:Resistin