Leptin and Adiponectin Levels in Acute Pancreatitis

Obesity is a risk factor for a severe form of acute pancreatitis (AP). Because the underlying mechanisms are poorly known, we studied relationship between the severity of AP and plasma levels of leptin and adiponectin, 2 adipokines regulating the course of systemic inflammation.The study comprises 12 patients with severe AP and 12 control patients with mild AP matched by age (+/-10 years), body mass index (+/-3 kg/m), sex, and etiology of AP. Quantikine Human Adiponectin and Quantikine Human Leptin Immunoassays (RD Systems, Minneapolis, Minn) were used to measure the adipokine levels in the patients' plasma on admission and during the hospital stay.Median leptin concentrations on admission were 6.1 ng/mL (range, 1.6-72.9 ng/mL) in the severe AP group and 9.0 ng/mL (range, 2.5-36.3 ng/mL) in the mild AP group (P0.05). In severe AP, the value at days 2 to 4 (7.7 ng/mL; range, 1.6-13.9 ng/mL) did not differ from respective on-admission value (P0.05). In mild AP, the value at days 2 to 4 (3.8 ng/mL; range, 1.6-12.9 ng/mL) was lower than the respective on-admission value (P = 0.005). Adiponectin concentrations on admission were 5642 ng/mL (range, 1201-19,400 ng/mL) for severe AP and 6314 ng/mL (range, 1980-24,340 ng/mL) for mild AP (P0.05). Maximum variation of adiponectin level (the highest value minus the lowest value) was greater in severe AP than in mild AP (P = 0.001).In patients matched by age, sex, body mass index, and etiology, the on-admission plasma levels of adiponectin and leptin do not correlate with disease severity, suggesting that the adipokines do not affect the course of AP.