title: Serum ghrelin levels in patients with Behcet's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic, relapsing, systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To measure serum ghrelin levels in BD patients and healthy controls and to investigate its association with metabolic syndrome (MetS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty BD patients and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. Ghrelin levels were measured in blood samples using ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean serum ghrelin level in BD patients (28.57 ±14.04) was significantly lower compared to healthy controls (40.72 ±23.21) (p= 0.01). The mean serum ghrelin level in BD patients who had MetS (24.18 ±12.73) was lower compared to BD patients who did not have MetS (30.77 ±14.45), but this difference was not significant (p> 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ghrelin levels were lower in BD patients compared to healthy controls. There was no association between reduced ghrelin levels and MetS; however, there was a negative correlation between ghrelin levels and disease activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Elazig Education and Research Hospital, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilker
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Erden
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Haydar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uçak
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Betül
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Demet
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cicek
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selma Bakar
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Dertlioğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry (Firat Hormones Research Group), Faculty of Medicine, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Suleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Savas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozturk
keywords: Behcet’s disease; ghrelin; insulin resistance; metabolic syndrome