Serum resistin, insulin resistance and carotid intima-media thickness as an indication of subclinical atherosclerosis in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

To evaluate resistin level in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and to assess the relationship with insulin resistance, disease characteristics, inflammatory markers and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) as a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. Thirty adult SLE patients and twenty age and sex-matched control were enrolled. All patients were subjected to history taking, clinical examination and assessment of anthropometric measurements. Laboratory investigations included serum resistin, measures of insulin resistance, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and lipid profile. Carotid duplex was performed for measurement of CIMT. SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI-2k) and damage index were evaluated. The 30 patients were 23 (76.7%) females and 7 (23.3%) males (F:M 3.3:1) with a mean age of 30.9 ± 7.9 years. The disease duration was 4.8 ± 1.8 years. The mean serum resistin in patients was 7.7 ± 2.9 ng/dl and in control was 8.5 ± 5.1 ng/dl (p = 0.8). The ESR and hs-CRP were significantly increased (p < 0.001) and the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) decreased (p < 0.001). The mean CIMT was significantly increased in cases (0.62 ± 0.16 mm) compared to control (0.51 ± 0.11 mm)(p = 0.006). Serum resistin significantly correlated with hs-CRP, HDL and anti-nuclear antibody (p = 0.027, p < 0.001,p = 0.013 respectively). There was no significant correlation between resistin and markers of insulin resistance, SLEDAI-2 k and CIMT. Resistin expression in the serum of patients with SLE was not significantly higher than controls. Although resistin was correlated with two cardiovascular risk factors (HDL-C, hs-CRP), it did not correlate significantly with insulin resistance, disease activity, damage index and CIMT in SLE patients.