Relationship between adipokines and manifestations of childhood asthma

Although the prevalences of asthma and obesity are increasing substantially in recent decades, very little is known about the possible association between them. We evaluated the roles of leptin, adiponectin, and resistin, which are adipokines produced by adipose tissue, on childhood asthma, and their association with pulmonary function and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. We studied 149 atopic asthmatic children, 37 non-atopic asthmatic children, and 54 healthy children. Body mass index was calculated using height and weight, which were measured on the same day that pulmonary function tests and methacholine challenge tests were performed. Skin prick tests were performed, and total eosinophil count, total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), serum eosinophil cationic protein, leptin, adiponectin, and resistin were measured in all subjects. Atopic asthmatics had lower resistin levels compared with non-atopic asthma and control groups, but leptin and adiponectin did not show any difference among these three groups. Resistin demonstrated positive correlation with methacholine PC₂₀ and negative correlations with eosinophil count and serum total IgE. Leptin and adiponectin showed associations with forced expiratory volume in 1 s or forced expiratory flow between 25–75%. Multiple regression analysis revealed that resistin was a significant predictive factor for asthma. There was no direct association between asthma and leptin or adiponectin. Our findings suggest that resistin may play a negative predictive role in asthma. Adiponectin and leptin showed close associations with pulmonary function and may have disease-modifying effects in children with asthma.