Implications of resistin plasma levels in subjects undergoing coronary angiography

The adipokine resistin, which is thought to serve as a link between obesity and insulin resistance, was recently shown to exert proatherosclerotic features.

Our study aimed to explore the involvement of resistin in cardiovascular disease by investigating the associations of resistin with angiographic coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiovascular risk factors and mortality.

The Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study is a prospective study of white subjects who had undergone coronary angiography.

Resistin levels were determined in 1162 subjects with (n = 911) and without (n = 251) angiographic CAD. During a mean follow-up period of 5.47 years, 198 deaths occurred among our probands.

Resistin was positively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP; r = 0.245, P < 0.001), vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1; r = 0.327, P < 0.001) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1; r = 0.197, P < 0.001) and was negatively correlated with glomerular filtration rate (GFR; r = -0.438, P < 0.001) and high density lipoprotein (HDL; r = -0.196, P < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that GFR was the strongest predictive variable for resistin. Angiographic CAD, type 2 diabetes, smoking, hypertension and body mass index (BMI) were not associated with resistin. Compared to the first quartile, we observed an increased risk for cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality at the fourth quartile of resistin, but only the association between resistin and noncardiovascular mortality remained significant after multivariable adjustments [hazard ratio (HR) 4.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.66-14.6, P = 0.004].

Resistin plasma concentrations are related to inflammatory processes and renal function but our study does not support the hypothesis of resistin as an independent cardiovascular risk factor. The unexpected association of resistin with noncardiovascular mortality still warrants further study.