title: Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma--Circulating Status of Vaspin and Retinol Binding Protein-4 in Iranian Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vaspin and Retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) are new adipokines mainly produced by adipose tissue. Considering that medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a malignant neuroendocrine tumor, and to date the relationship between serum levels of vaspin and RBP4 with MTC has not been studied, in this matched case-control study we evaluated their possible significance to this tumor type.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 45 patients with MTC (21 males and 24 females) and 45 healthy persons as a control group (24 males and 21 females) were selected. The two groups were matched for age, sex and body mass index. Serum Vaspin and RBP4 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods in both groups. Also, weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated too.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, patients with MTC had significantly higher serum vaspin levels compared to the controls (0.52 ng/ml vs. 0.45 ng/ml, P=0.0241). However, no significant difference was found in serum RBP4 concentrations between the patients with MTC and the controls (15.2±2.55 μg/ml versus 15.1±3.34 μg/ml, p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study demonstrated that serum RBP4 levels in MTC patients are not significantly different from those found in healthy individuals and did not correlate with MTC. On the other hand, higher levels of serum vaspin are associated with an increased risk of MTC. Thus Vaspin may be a novel and promising biomarker for diagnosis or confirmation of MTC in conjunction other specific tumor markers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran E-mail : Hedayati@endocrine.ac.ir and mehdihedayati@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sepideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jabbari
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hedayati
authors.forename: Parichehreh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yaghmaei
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parivar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D018278:Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma / Q000378:metabolism*; D015843:Serpins / Q000097:blood*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C101326:RBP4 protein, human; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma; C507339:SERPINA12 protein, human; D015843:Serpins