Serum levels of leptin and adiponectin in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease : potential biomarkers

Abstract EN

Background / Aim : nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurs in 60 % ~95 % of people with obesity.

Understanding the pathogenesis of NAFLD is of great importance in ultimately finding a treatment, cure or prevention of this disease.

The present study aimed to investigate the role of adipocytokines (lepton and adiponectin) in NAFLD and correlate them with different anthropometric and clinical variables as well as to investigate the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and NAFLD.

Patients and Methods : Thirty patients (9 males and 21 females) with NAFLD (their diagnosis was based on ultrasonography finding of bright liver).

Their age was (Mean ± SD) 38.00 ± 10.42 years.

A control group included fifteen healthy volunteers, who was gender, age and BMI matched.

Serum levels of lepton, adiponectin, (hs- CRP), and lipid profile were assayed.

Results : NAFLD patients showed significantly higher BMI, AST / ALT ratio, serum levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, serum NEFFA levels, serum hs-CRP levels and significantly lower serum HDL-C and adiponectin levels in comparison to controls.

Among NAFLD patients ; these changes were significantly high in females than male patients.

Serum lepton levels showed no significant difference between patients and controls.

NAFLD patients with BMI 30 and those with AST/ALT ratio 1 showed significantly higher serum levels of NEFFA, lepton, hs-CRP and significantly lower serum levels of adiponectin in comparison to those with BMI<30 and AST / ALT ratio < 1.

Conclusion : to date adiponectin and hs-CRP has yielded the most promising results.

Serum lepton has contradictory results so cannot be used as a marker of NAFLD.