Circulating resistin levels and risk of multiple myeloma in three prospective cohorts

Multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell disease, was newly diagnosed in an estimated 24 280 individuals in 2016 in the United States (Teras et al, 2016). Besides well-established risk factors, such as male sex, older age, African ancestry, and a family history of haematological malignancies (Baris et al, 2013), obesity has been shown to increase MM risk (Teras et al, 2014). The association between obesity and MM may be attributable in part to altered levels of various adipokines (e.g., adiponectin, leptin, and resistin) secreted by adipose tissue (Dalamaga et al, 2009). We have recently shown that the risk of MM is increased for individuals with low pre-diagnosis circulating levels of adiponectin (Hofmann et al, 2016), but not of leptin (Hofmann et al, 2012). The potential role of resistin in MM development is poorly understood. An increased risk of MM for individuals with low serum levels of resistin was observed by one small hospital-based case–control study (73 MM cases and 73 controls) (Dalamaga et al, 2009). To our knowledge, the relationship between resistin and MM has not been evaluated prospectively. Using a nested case–control study involving three cohorts participating in the MM cohort consortium, we investigated whether pre-diagnosis circulating levels of resistin were associated with future MM risk.