Resistin is an inflammatory marker of inflammatory bowel disease in humans.
OBJECTIVE
Resistin, a recently discovered adipokine, has been shown to be associated with inflammatory conditions such as insulin resistance, obesity, atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. We therefore hypothesized that (i) resistin levels may be elevated in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and (ii) resistin levels may be associated with disease activity in IBD.


METHODS
We addressed these questions by testing for associations between resistin plasma levels, inflammatory parameters and clinical disease activity in a case-control study with 235 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 112 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 144 healthy controls.


RESULTS
Patients with IBD showed significantly higher resistin levels compared with controls (P<0.0001). In both, patients with CD and UC, resistin concentrations were significantly associated with elevated white blood cell count (P<0.0001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (P<0.0001) and disease activity (P< or =0.0001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, resistin levels were identified as an independent predictor of active disease (odds ratio 1.014, 95% confidence interval 1.002-1.027, P=0.02) in patients with CD after adjusting for sex, age, body mass index, white blood cell count and CRP. In UC patients, resistin was associated with active disease in multivariate regression analysis after control for sex, age, body mass index and white blood cell count (odds ratio 1.015, 95% confidence interval 1.002-1.029, P=0.02). Addition of CRP, however, abolished this association.


CONCLUSIONS
Resistin levels are an independent predictor of disease activity in patients with CD. Resistin may represent a novel link between inflammation and IBD.
Konrad
Astrid
A
Department of Internal Medicine II, University of Munich, Munich, Germany. astrid.konrad@med.uni-muenchen.de
Lehrke
Michael
M
Schachinger
Veronika
V
Seibold
Frank
F
Stark
Renee
R
Ochsenkühn
Thomas
T
Parhofer
Klaus G
KG
Göke
Burkhard
B
Broedl
Uli C
UC
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D052243:Resistin / Q000097:blood*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D015415:Biomarkers; D052243:Resistin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein