High Plasma Resistin Level Is Associated with Enhanced Highly Sensitive C-Reactive Protein and Leukocytes

Abstract

Objectives: Resistin is a newly described hormone with a suggested role in insulin resistance. In humans, inflammatory cells seem to be the major source of resistin. The aim of this study was to find out whether plasma resistin concentration associates with carotid artery atherosclerosis and the risk factors of atherosclerosis.Methods: Plasma resistin concentrations were measured in 525 Finnish middle-aged subjects among our population-based cohort. Intima-media thickness was measured from the internal carotid artery, the bifurcation enlargement, and the common carotid artery.Results: Among all the subjects, the median resistin concentration was 7.07 ng/ml (interquartile range, 5.82-8.84), women having higher levels than men (P Ͻ 0.001) with median values of 7.56 ng/ml (6.18 -9.19) and 6.67 ng/ml (5.63-8.31), respectively. Resistin level correlated negatively with mean intima-media thickness, internal carotid artery, and common carotid artery, but the association did not remain significant after adjustments. Plasma resistin concentration was associated positively with leukocytes (P Ͻ 0.001), highly sensitive C-reactive protein (P ϭ 0.009), and IGF binding protein 1 (P Ͻ 0.001), but not with plasma insulin or glucose levels in analysis of covariance after adjustments for age, sex, and body mass index. Conclusions:The results imply that inflammatory factors are more important in the determination of plasma resistin concentration than plasma insulin or glucose values. Resistin is associated with proatherogenic inflammatory markers but not independently with early atherosclerosis.

Associations of resistin with inflammatory and fibrinolytic markers, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome in middle-aged and older Chinese

“…Consistent with some previous reports in Western (10,21) and Japanese populations (20) we found that women had higher resistin concentrations than men. However, this difference disappeared after adjustment for age, lifestyle factors, education status, geographic locations, family history of chronic disease, and uses of medications, suggesting that the gender difference of resistin levels could be explained by these factors.…”

“…However, studies on the association between resistin and chronic diseases in humans have yielded controversial results. Several studies showed that circulating resistin levels were associated with obesity (4-6), but this association was not found in others (7)(8)(9)(10). Although some studies have reported that resistin levels were higher in type 2 diabetic subjects than controls (8,11), other studies did not find any association between resistin and IR or fasting glucose levels (4,7,9,10,12).…”

“…Moreover, proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)1, IL6, and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF)) could increase resistin expression in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (15), and meanwhile recombinant resistin also triggers the release of these proinflammatory cytokines in human PBMCs (16). Human population studies also showed that resistin levels were associated positively with leukocytes (10,17), C-reactive protein (CRP) (10,(18)(19)(20), IL6, and tumor necrosis factor-a receptor 2 (TNFR2) (21). In addition, resistin was found to upregulate the expression of cytokines and adhesion molecules in human endothelial cells (22,23).…”

Serum resistin correlates with central obesity but weakly with insulin resistance in Chinese children and adolescents

“…[30][31][32] This finding was not supported by another study. 33 Resistin levels were also reported as not affected by age in adults.…”

Adipocytokine and ghrelin levels in relation to cardiovascular disease risk factors in women at midlife: longitudinal associations

“…Previous studies of associations with resistin have been inconsistent not only with lipids and insulin resistance but also with obesity itself. [49][50][51][52][53][54][55] Hormone therapy has been shown to alter both leptin and adiponectin levels, and significant associations have been found between endogenous hormones and these adipokines. [56][57][58][59][60] However, to our knowledge, previous studies have not examined the role of menopause in the relationship between adipocytokines and CVD risk.…”