Resistin and Insulin Resistance: A Link Between Inflammation and Hepatocarcinogenesis

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer related death overall. The role of insulin resistance in the development of HCC associated with chronic HCV infection has not been established. Resistin is a polypeptide hormone belonging to the adipokine family which could contribute to tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Our aim was to study serum resistin and insulin resistance as risk factors for HCC in HCV cirrhotic patients. Materials and Methods: This prospective case controlled study included 100 patients with HCV related liver cirrhosis and HCC, 100 patients with HCV related liver cirrhosis without HCC and 50 apparently healthy participants as controls. For all subjects, liver profile, serologic markers for viral hepatitis, lipid profile, alpha-fetoprotein level (AFP), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) were examined along with resistin. Results: HCC patients had higher mean values of HOMA-IR and resistin than cirrhotic patients and the control subjects (p<0.01). HOMA and resistin were considered independent risk factors in development of HCC, those patients with resistin › 12 ng/ml and HOMA ›4 being 1.6 times more likely to have HCC. Conclusions: HOMA and serum resistin allow for early identification of patients with cirrhosiswho are at substantially increased risk of HCC. Recommendation: HOMA and serum resistin could represent novel markers to identify HCV cirrhotic patients at greater risk of development of HCC.

Resistin potentiates chemoresistance and stemness of breast cancer cells: Implications for racially disparate therapeutic outcomes

“…While our study provides first evidence for a role of resistin in cancer chemoresistance, its role in insulin resistance is well characterized [44]. Incidentally, insulin resistance is also associated with high risk of human cancers [45], including BC [46]. …”

Roles of Adipokines in Digestive Diseases: Markers of Inflammation, Metabolic Alteration and Disease Progression

“…Hyperresistinemia in patients with chronic HCV infection has been consistently reported [115][116][117][118][119]. This condition is reversed after viral clearance [55,120,121] and determines moderate to severe fibrosis [117]. Our previous study showed that resistin originates primarily from intrahepatic lymphocytes, stellate cells, Kupffer cells, hepatic progenitor cells, and hepatocytes in HCV-infected patients [120].…”

“…Although the baseline resistin level was reported to be unassociated with therapeutic response [55], fine-tuned by resisin SNPs including RETN-rs34861192, RETN-rs3219175, RETN-rs3745367, and RETN-rs1423096, the intrahepatic, multicellular resistin reinforced IFNL3 in eliminating HCV via immunomodulation [120]. Moreover, high serum resistin levels might allow early identification of patients with cirrhosis who are at substantially increased risk of HCC [121].…”

Hepatokines and adipokines in NASH-related hepatocellular carcinoma

“…In patients with NASH, the serum levels of resistin also showed an inverse correlation with the stage of fibrosis [218]. High resistin levels (>12 ng/mL) were associated with HCV-related cirrhosis and are considered an independent risk factor for the development of HCV-related HCC [219]. However, the role of resistin in NASH-related HCC has not been investigated, yet.…”