Child Health Department, University of Ioannina Medical School, Greece.
Acta Haematol. 2010;124(4):191-6. doi: 10.1159/000320274. Epub 2010 Nov 2.
BACKGROUND/AIM: The adipocytokines leptin and adiponectin represent a critical link between metabolism, immunity and chronic inflammation. A chronic vascular inflammatory state plays an important role in the pathophysiology of thalassaemia. We aimed to analyze the levels of these adipocytokines and determine any possible correlations with disease severity or vascular inflammation markers in beta-thalassaemia.
Serum leptin, adiponectin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, endothelins, vascular adhesion molecule-1, intracellular adhesion molecule-1 and L- and E-selectin were measured in 28 beta-thalassaemia patients and compared with levels in healthy controls.
Leptin was significantly lower in patients compared to controls (2.23 ± 1.8 vs. 10.24 ± 5.78 μg/l; p = 0.0018), whereas adiponectin was elevated (11.75 ± 5.67 vs. 6.83 ± 2.75 μg/l; p = 0.009). For both adipocytokines, no correlations were found with characteristics such as age, gender, type of chelation, body mass index z score or haemoglobin. Leptin, but not adiponectin, was negatively correlated with ferritin (p = 0.032, r = -0.61). No correlations were found between leptin and the inflammation markers. However, adiponectin was positively correlated with endothelin-1 (p = 0.022, r = 0.63).
Serum leptin is low in beta-thalassaemia, perhaps due to the toxic effect of iron overload on adipose tissue. Paradoxically, adiponectin levels are high and positively correlated with endothelin-1, raising questions about the pro- or anti-inflammatory role of this adipocytokine in beta-thalassaemia.
背景/目的：脂肪细胞因子瘦素和脂联素是代谢、免疫和慢性炎症之间的关键联系。慢性血管炎症状态在地中海贫血的病理生理学中起着重要作用。我们旨在分析这些脂肪细胞因子的水平，并确定它们与疾病严重程度或β地中海贫血的血管炎症标志物之间的任何可能相关性。
测量了 28 例β地中海贫血患者和健康对照组的血清瘦素、脂联素、高敏 C 反应蛋白、内皮素、血管细胞黏附分子-1、细胞间黏附分子-1 和 L 选凝素和 E 选凝素，并进行比较。
与对照组相比，患者的瘦素明显降低（2.23±1.8 与 10.24±5.78μg/l；p=0.0018），而脂联素升高（11.75±5.67 与 6.83±2.75μg/l；p=0.009）。对于这两种脂肪细胞因子，都与年龄、性别、螯合类型、体重指数 z 评分或血红蛋白等特征无相关性。瘦素，但不是脂联素，与铁蛋白呈负相关（p=0.032，r=-0.61）。瘦素与炎症标志物之间无相关性。然而，脂联素与内皮素-1呈正相关（p=0.022，r=0.63）。
β地中海贫血患者血清瘦素水平较低，这可能是由于铁过载对脂肪组织的毒性作用所致。相反，脂联素水平较高，与内皮素-1呈正相关，这引发了关于这种脂肪细胞因子在β地中海贫血中的促炎或抗炎作用的问题。
