Comparing the Serum Levels of Adipocytokines in the Renal Transplant Recipients and Healthy Individuals: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: Increasing evidence implies that Adipocytokines may result in cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and metabolic changes in the general population and also increase graft failure rate in the renal transplant recipient. Objectives: To compare the serum levels of Adipocytokines and lipid profiles in renal transplant recipients with healthy individuals. Methods: In a case-control study undertaken from the beginning of 2015 to December 2016; 30 renal transplant recipients, with stable conditions, whose renal transplant at least survived well over six months, were randomly selected to be the case group. Besides, 30 healthy individuals who referred to the transplantation clinic as the patients' attendants were considered as the control group. The serum levels of IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha, Adiponectin, Visfatin, Leptin, and the Lipid profiles were measured after 12 hours of fasting and were compared between the two groups. Results: The serum levels of Adipocytokines including IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha, Visfatin, and Leptin were significantly higher in renal transplant recipients than in healthy individuals (P <0.001) and the serum level of adiponectin (P < 0.004) was significantly lower in the renal transplant recipients. Linear regression results indicated that in the renal transplant group, only the Visfatin had a significant negative correlation with age (Unstandardized Coefficient =-0.104, P= 0.002). There were significant positive correlations between Leptin with cholesterol (P= 0.005), triglyceride (P= 0.008), and LDL (P= 0.014) in the healthy individuals, however, these relationships were not found in the renal transplant recipients and only a significant negative correlation was found between Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and cholesterol levels (P = 0.01). Conclusions: The findings of the present study demonstrated that renal transplant recipients suffer from inflammation and accompanying changes in levels of Adipocytokines in comparison with healthy controls.