Correlation of circulating full-length visfatin (PBEF/NAMPT) with metabolic parameters in subjects with and without diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Summary Objective  Here we use a novel ELISA that is specific for full-length visfatin (PBEF/NAMPT), compare it with the existing C-terminal based assay and use it to investigate associations of visfatin with metabolic parameters. Design, patients and measurements  We established the specificity and effectiveness of the new ELISA and evaluated the associations of full-length visfatin with clinical, anthropometric and metabolic parameters in a cross-sectional study of 129 Thai subjects, consisting of 50 outpatients with type 2 diabetes and 79 healthy volunteers. Results  The new ELISA accurately recovered full-length recombinant visfatin and detected visfatin secreted by primary human and rat adipocytes. We found serum full-length visfatin was significantly higher in subjects with diabetes compared to their nondiabetic peers (median 2·75 vs. 2·22 ng/ml, P = 0·0142). After adjustment for age, gender and traditional metabolic risk factors, adjusted mean visfatin remained significantly higher in the diabetes group (3·80 vs. 2·10 ng/ml, P = 0·0021). On Spearman univariate correlation analysis, visfatin was significantly associated with resistin (r = 0·30, P = 0·0011), but not with any other anthropometric or metabolic variables, including adiponectin multimers. On multiple linear regression analysis, the only covariates independently associated with visfatin were diabetes (t = 3·11, P = 0·0024) and log resistin (t = 2·68, P = 0·0086). Conclusions  Circulating visfatin is independently associated with diabetes and resistin concentration, but is not related to adiponectin multimers or other metabolic covariates. These data are suggestive of a potential role of visfatin in subclinical inflammatory states.