Preliminary study of the level of visfatin and the relationship with insulin resistance in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C.
BACKGROUND
Many studies have suggested that visfatin expression is closely related to the occurrence of insulin resistance (IR), while the precise role of visfatin in the regulation of IR in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is not clear.


METHODS
We investigated fasting glucose, fasting insulin (FINS), C peptide, visfatin, visfatin mRNA, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, C-reactive protein (CRP) and other parameters of 315 patients with CHC and 150 control cases in China. Meanwhile we collected clinical and other laboratory data for further analysis.


RESULTS
Compared with the control group, the CHC group had a significant increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), the AST to platelet ratio index (APRI), ratio of AST to ALT (AAR), gammaglutamyl trans-peptidase, IL-6, TNF-α, visfatin, visfatin mRNA, FINS, fasting C peptide, and IR index. The visfatin, visfatin mRNA, insulin, IR index, Homaβ cell function index (HBCI), and fasting β-cell function index (FBCI) of the subjects with high body mass index (BMI) from the CHC sub-group were significantly higher than the normal BMI sub-group of CHC patients. We found a positive correlation between visfatin, visfatin mRNA and BMI, IL-6, TNF-α, and IR index.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that visfatin may be related to IR in Chinese CHC patients.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China. wym0577@163.com
Yumin
Y
Wang
Jie
J
Chen
Jingye
J
Pan
Wenhui
W
Zhang
Zengqiang
Z
Chen
Fangyu
F
Yu
D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology
D007328:Insulin; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase