Serum resistin levels are elevated in schoolchildren with atopic asthma

OBJECTIVES: There are limited data on the role of adipokines in atopic asthma. DESIGN AND SETTING: To determine serum levels of resistin in asthmatic children in relation to body weight, asthma severity and gender, serum resistin (RES) levels were measured using ELISA in 89 asthmatic children (61 boys and 28 girls, aged 7.0-17.0 years) and in 33 healthy children. Among examined asthmatics 59 (19 girls and 40 boys) had normal weight (ANW) and 30 (9 girls and 21 boys) were obese (AO). RESULTS: The mean serum levels of resistin were significantly (p<0.01) higher in all non-obese asthmatic children (4.11 +/- 0.1 ng/mL) than in healthy children (3.83 +/- 0.1 ng/mL). After stratifying by gender only ANW boys and AO boys had significantly higher RES levels than boys from control group. Both AO (4.4 +/- 0.2 ng/mL) and ANW girls (4.38 +/- 0.2 ng/mL) as well as girls from control (4.09 +/- 0.1) group showed significantly higher mean RES serum concentrations than boys from corresponding groups (3.99 +/- 0.1 ng/ml, 3.83 +/- 0.17 ng/ml and 3.44 +/- 0.06 ng/ml, respectively). No relationship between examined adipokine levels and asthma severity, spirometric parameters, degree of allergic sensitization, BMI, BMI-SDS was stated. CONCLUSION: Increased serum RES in children with atopic asthma suggest that this adipokine may be implicated in its pathogenesis.