Increased serum visfatin in patients with metabolic syndrome and carotid atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Visfatin is a newly identified adipocytokine and recent studies indicated that visfatin may have potential proinflammatory effect. However, its pathophysiological role in the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is not fully understood. In this study we investigated whether serum visfatin levels is altered in patients with the MetS, and compared the levels of visfatin between patients with and without carotid plaques.


METHODS
A total of 139 patients with MetS and 105 controls were included. The patients were further divided into two groups: 40 with carotid plaques and 99 without carotid plaques. Serum visfatin was measured by using enzyme immunoassay method and carotid intimal-media thickness (IMT) was measured by ultrasound in all subjects.


RESULTS
Serum visfatin was elevated in both MetS patients with and without carotid plaques compared to controls (log visfatin: 1.14 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.99 +/- 0.17 ng/ml vs. 0.93 +/- 0.23 ng/ml, P < 0.001 and P < 0.05 vs. control group, respectively), and in patients with carotid plaques more than in patients without carotid plaques (P < 0.001). Multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that only LDL-cholesterol correlated with visfatin, and visfatin independently correlated with max IMT in the patients with MetS. A log visfatin > 1.08 ng/ml had 70% sensitivity and 67% specificity for detecting patients with carotid plaques.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that serum visfatin was increased in patients with MetS, especially in those with carotid plaques. Visfatin may be an inflammatory marker of MetS.
Zhong
Ming
M
Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Remodeling and Function Research, Chinese Ministries of Education and Health, Jinan, 250012, China.
Tan
Hong-wei
HW
Gong
Hui-ping
HP
Wang
Shu-fang
SF
Zhang
Yun
Y
Zhang
Wei
W
D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000097:blood*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography
D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase