A. Ballinger et al., PLASMA LEPTIN IN CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE AND HIV - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PATHOGENESIS OF ANOREXIA AND WEIGHT-LOSS, Clinical science, 94(5), 1998, pp. 479-483
1. Leptin inhibits food intake and is an important regulator of long-t
erm energy balance. In rodents, plasma concentrations of leptin are in
creased by administration of interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor.
Hyperleptinaemia may mediate the anorexia and weight loss which is ob
served in chronic infections and inflammatory conditions. 2. Plasma le
ptin and soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor (sTNF-r55) concentrat
ions were measured in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and acq
uired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and healthy controls. 3. The p
atients with AIDS were severely wasted [% body fat 12 (9-16); median (
interquartile range)] compared with those with inflammatory bowel dise
ase [25.1 (19-31.5)] and control subjects [29.4 (23.6-37.8)]. Leptin c
oncentrations were highly correlated with percentage body fat in contr
ols (r = 0.74, P < 0.001) and patients with IBD (r = 0.73, P < 0.001)
but not in the patients with AIDS (r = -0.024), Leptin concentrations
were similar in the inflammatory bowel disease [4.8 (2.6-10.1) ng/ml]
and control groups [8.0 (3.1-14.1) ng/ml] but were significantly lower
(P < 0.05) in patients with AIDS [1.8 (1.5-2.3) ng/ml] after 23 patie
nts were matched for sex and percentage body fat in patients with infl
ammatory bowel disease [2.4 (1.8-4.1) ng/ml]. Plasma concentrations of
sTNF-r55 were higher in both the patients with inflammatory bowel dis
ease [0.19 (0.16-0.23) ng/ml] and those with AIDS [4.8 (2.8-7.3) ng/ml
] compared with controls [0.14 (0.09-0.16) ng/ml] but were not correla
ted with either percentage body fat or plasma leptin concentrations. 4
. Hyperleptinaemia does not appear to mediate the anorexia and weight
loss associated with inflammatory bowel disease and AIDS. In patients
with AIDS with extreme wasting there was no relationship between body
fat and leptin and this may be related to the rapid weight loss which
occurs in these patients.