The prothrombotic effects of leptin possible implications for the risk of cardiovascular disease in obesity

Human obesity is associated with leptin resistance, elevated leptin levels in the circulation, and increased risk of arterial and venous thrombotic disease. Our studies suggest that elevated leptin levels may directly promote arterial thrombosis in vivo. We found that leptin-deficient ob/ob mice had prolonged times to thrombosis after arterial injury with ferric chloride and that exogenously administered leptin corrected their phenotype in a dose-dependent manner. These effects appear to result from a direct, receptor-mediated effect of leptin on platelets, because leptin stimulated the aggregation of murine (wild-type and ob/ob) and human platelets, but it had no effect on platelets from leptin receptor-deficient db/db mice. Moreover, db/db mice had an attenuated thrombotic response to ferric chloride injury (indistinguishable from that of the ob/ob mice), which was unaffected by exogenous leptin. Our results raise the possibility that elevated plasma levels of leptin may contribute to the risk of atherothrombotic complications in human obesity.