Serum Resistin Levels of Obese and Lean Children and Adolescents: Biochemical Analysis and Clinical Relevance

Objective: It was hypothesized that resistin links obesity with diabetes, but this has not been studied in children and adolescents to date. Patients: We determined serum resistin levels of 135 obese (body mass index, 32.0 ± 6.2 kg/m2; age, 12.6 ± 3.4 yr) and 201 lean children (body mass index, 18.7 ± 2.4 kg/m2; age, 12.5 ± 2.5 yr) by a newly developed and extensively evaluated in-house immunoassay. These results were controlled for their association with markers of puberty, obesity, and insulin sensitivity. Results: The analytical evaluation of our assay revealed different resistin isoforms with major peaks of higher than 660 and 55 kDa in the size exclusion chromatography. Using this assay system we found no difference in the resistin levels of obese compared with lean subjects (P = 0.48). However, resistin was significantly higher in girls than in boys (6.74 ± 2.42 vs. 5.79 ± 2.45; P < 0.001). Interestingly, in both obese and lean children, resistin correlated with age (P < 0.01), Tanner stage, and tes...