Affiliations: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait
University, Safat, Kuwait | Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait
University, Safat, Kuwait | Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine,
Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. SS Al Mutairi, Department of
Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 24923, Safat, Kuwait, Code 13110. Tel.:
965 25319596; Fax: 965 25338907; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Aims: To investigate the hypothesis that circulating resistin
reflects the degree of pulmonary inflammation, this study explores putative
roles of resistin in patients with acute and stable inflammatory obstructive
airway diseases and cigarette smokers. Methods: We determined complements C3, C4, fasting resistin, insulin, glucose and lipid profile; calculated
insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) in patients with
acute asthma exacerbation (n=34); stable asthma (n=26) and stable
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n=26), cigarette smokers (n=81), and healthy control subjects
(n=42). We determined the associations
between these variables and pulmonary function tests. Results: Patients with COPD, acute and stable asthma had significantly higher resistin and
insulin than control subjects. Resistin, insulin, HOMA-IR, FEV1% and
FEV1/FVC were significantly (p< 0.05) different between patients with
acute asthma compared with stable asthma and COPD; smokers had similar levels
of resistin, C3 and C4 as patients with asthma and COPD. In smokers, patients
with asthma or COPD, resistin showed significant inverse correlations with
FEV1%; FEV1/FVC% and positive significant correlations with BMI and
HOMA-IR. Logistic regression showed that resistin is associated (p< 0.05)
with inflammatory obstructive airways disease – odds ratio (OR)=1.22 and smoking OR=1.18. Conclusion: Resistin may be a disease activity
marker and may contribute to insulin resistance in smokers, asthma and COPD.
