The role of adipokines in weight loss and their relation with systemic inflammation in non-small cell lung cancer patients

The loss of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, hypercatabolism, anorexia and synthesis of acute phase reactants are the factors leading to weight loss in cancer patients. Although adipokines are strongly related to BMI, their exact role in this complicated pathogenesis is not known yet. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of adipokines (leptin, adiponectin) in weight loss of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in relation with the systemic inflammation (CRP, TNF-?).Sixty-three male patients diagnosed as NSCLC between October 2007 and December 2009 in Chest Diseases clinic were admitted to the study consecutively. Twenty-five healthy males of similar age range who did not have weight loss more than 5% in last 6 months were admitted as control group. NSCLC patients were further divided into 2 groups as those having >5% weight loss in last 6 months or not. There were 33 patients (52,4%) with weight loss.The biochemical nutritional parameters of NSCLC patients (albumin, cholesterol, hemoglobin and lymphocyte) were lower than controls; but there was no difference between patients with or without weight loss. The positive acute phase reactants CRP, leucocyte, ferritin, thrombocyte and fibrinogen were higher than controls in NSCLC group. Plasma albumin level (which is a negative acute phase reactant) was lower in cancer group whereas there was no difference in transferrin level. There was difference in thrombocyte and transferrin levels between patients with or without weight loss.Circulating CRP level was significantly higher in lung cancer patients compared to controls. TNF-? and leptin concentrations were similar in cancer and control groups; whereas adiponectin was lower in cancer group.CRP, TNF-? and adiponectin levels were similar in patients with or without weight loss. Leptin was lower in weight-loosing cancer patients. There was no correlation between CRP, TNF-? and adipokines.The role of adipokines in weight loss of NSCLC in relation with the systemic inflammation was investigated in this study. There was no correlation between adipokines and markers of systemic inflammation. The results revealed that adipokines are not inflammatory markers indicating weight loss. We concluded that leptin and adiponectin were not disregulated in lung cancer; moreover, probably as a compensatory mechanism to preserve body fat content, leptin remains lower in weight-loosing cancer patients.Key Words: Lung cancer, weight loss, systemic inflammation, adipokines.