Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

The CYP2D6 Animal Model: How to Induce Autoimmune Hepatitis in Mice
Published on: February 3, 2012
Serum adiponectin correlates with viral characteristics but not histologic features in patients with chronic
Chun-Jen Liu1, Pei-Jer Chen, Yung-Ming Jeng
1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Background/Aims:
Adiponectin induces insulin sensitivity and modulates inflammatory responses. We thus studied the implications of adiponectin in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection inherently linked to insulin resistance.
Methods:
We analyzed the association of serum adiponectin levels with clinical, virologic, and histologic findings in 95 naive Taiwanese patients with chronic hepatitis C before and after antiviral therapy.
Results:
At baseline, 14 (15%) of the 95 patients were obese and 26 (27%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fifty-seven patients were infected with HCV genotype 1 and 38 with genotype 2. Steatosis and periportal fibrosis was present in 44 (46%) and 69 (73%), respectively. In multivariate analysis, male gender, insulin resistance, high HCV load and genotype 2 were significantly associated with a lower serum adiponectin level. In contrast, intrahepatic gene expression of adiponectin receptors was higher in genotype 2 compared with genotype 1. Serum adiponectin level did not correlate with other clinical or histologic parameters. After treatment, change of steatosis also did not correlate with the change of adiponectin level (P=0.61).
Conclusions:
Adiponectin correlated with hepatitis C viral factors at both serum and liver tissue levels. The interactions among adiponectin, insulin resistance and chronic HCV infection merit further studies.
Related Concept Videos
Hepatitis
Viral Hepatitis I: Introduction
Cirrhosis II: Pathophysiology
Chronic Pancreatitis II: Pathophysiology
Inhibitors of Viral Protein Synthesis
Effect of Hepatic Disease on Pharmacokinetics: Pathophysiologic Assessment and Liver Function Test

