Serum visfatin levels in Behcet's disease

Background and Design: The genetic predisposition, infectious agents, various antibodies and oxidative stress has been suggested to be among the possible causes of the etiopathogenesis of Behcet's disease (BD). Recently, a new protein called visfatin, synthesized by adipose tissue has been identified. Visfatin has been found to be associated with many cases like insulin resistance, obesity, atherosclerosis, inflammation, immunity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between serum visfatin levels and the activity of Behcet's disease, and determine the role of visfatin in the inflammatory process of BD. Materials and Methods: One hundred patients (43 M, 57 F) who were diagnosed as Behcet's disease according to BD International Working Group criteria and 60 (31 M, 29 F) healthy individuals joined the study. Patient group was composed of 50 active and 50 inactive Behcet's patients. Statistical analyzes were performed with SPSS 15.0 program. Results: Visfatin levels were significantly higher in both group of patients compared to the control group (p<0.001) (p<0.001). Serum visfatin levels in patients with active disease were found statistically significantly higher than inactive patients (p<0.001). Conclusions: Serum visfatin levels in both active and inactive patient groups were higher than the control group. Visfatin is a proinflammatory cytokine and has a role in chronic inflammatory reaction by inducing cellular expression of inflammatory cytokines. Visfatin may play a role via this method in the pathogenesis of active and chronic phase of Behcet's disease.