Department of Physiology in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
J Viral Hepat. 2010 Apr;17(4):254-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2893.2009.01174.x. Epub 2009 Oct 13.
Visfatin is a new adipokine involved in several processes. The data concerning visfatin in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is small. To assess visfatin serum concentration and to study its association with biochemical and morphological features in CHC. Seventy nonobese patients with CHC (Group 1) confirmed by the presence of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA and 20 healthy volunteers (Group 2), similar in age and BMI with normal fasting glucose and lipid profile were included. Visfatin was significantly increased in Group 1 compared with Group 2 (55.6 +/- 23.1 vs 23.7 +/- 3.8 ng/mL; P < 0.001). Visfatin was negatively associated with necro-inflammatory activity grade (r = -0.36; P = 0.007). The lowest levels were found in patients with the most advanced inflammation: grades 3-4 - 46.8 +/- 17.1, grade 2 - 52.6 +/- 18.4 and grade 1 - 75.2 +/- 27.6 ng/mL; P = 0.017. A significant difference was also shown comparing patients with minimal inflammatory activity to the rest of the cohort (P = 0.009). Visfatin receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for different necro-inflammatory activity - grade 1 vs grades 3-4 with area under the curve 0.81 indicated a good discriminant power for differentiation of moderate/severe inflammation, with the cut-off set at 57.6 ng/mL (sensitivity 75%, specificity 90%, positive predictive value 0.90, negative predictive value 0.75). Serum visfatin concentration increases significantly in CHC patients. These findings suggest that visfatin is important in the pathogenesis of the inflammatory process in CHC. Visfatin may play a dual role as a pro-inflammatory or/and protective factor. The measurement of visfatin serum concentration may serve as an additional tool in distinguishing more advanced grades of the necro-inflammatory activity.
内脏脂肪素是一种新的脂肪因子，参与多种过程。有关慢性丙型肝炎（CHC）中内脏脂肪素的数据较少。评估 CHC 患者血清内脏脂肪素浓度，并研究其与生化和形态特征的相关性。纳入 70 名非肥胖 CHC 患者（1 组），通过血清丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）-RNA 证实，20 名健康志愿者（2 组），年龄和 BMI 相似，空腹血糖和血脂谱正常。1 组内脏脂肪素明显高于 2 组（55.6 +/- 23.1 对 23.7 +/- 3.8 ng/ml；P < 0.001）。内脏脂肪素与坏死性炎症活动分级呈负相关（r = -0.36；P = 0.007）。最低水平见于炎症最严重的患者：3-4 级-46.8 +/- 17.1，2 级-52.6 +/- 18.4 和 1 级-75.2 +/- 27.6 ng/ml；P = 0.017。与炎症活动最小的患者相比，差异也显示在与队列其余部分比较（P = 0.009）。不同坏死性炎症活动-1 级与 3-4 级内脏脂肪素受试者工作特征曲线分析，曲线下面积为 0.81，表明中度/重度炎症的区分具有良好的判别能力，截断值为 57.6 ng/ml（敏感性 75%，特异性 90%，阳性预测值 0.90，阴性预测值 0.75）。CHC 患者血清内脏脂肪素浓度显著升高。这些发现表明，内脏脂肪素在 CHC 炎症过程的发病机制中很重要。内脏脂肪素可能作为一种促炎或/和保护因子发挥双重作用。血清内脏脂肪素浓度的测定可作为区分坏死性炎症活动更严重程度的附加工具。
