Investigation of the correlation between serum leptin and irisin levels in patients with fibromyalgia and disease activity and inflammatory markers

ABSTRACT Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate levels of serum leptin and irisin in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), and also is to investigate whether the correlation between these parameters with disease activity and markers of inflammation. Patients and methods: Total of 84 volunteers women, including 48 patients with FMS diagnosed according to the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria and 36 healthy controls were included into the study. The demographic characteristics of the patient and control group were recorded. Visual analog scale (VAS) with 10-scale for pain disorder and the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire for the assessment of physical function of the patients (FIQ), short form to assess the quality of life-36 (SF-36) and accompanying Beck Depression Inventory (BDS) to assess depression was used. Blood samples were taken for analysis that Leptin, irisin, and inflammatory markers of ESR, CRP, hsCRP and neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio (NLO). Serum leptin and irisin levels were determined by ELISA method. Results: Serum leptin levels in patients with FMS were significantly higher when compared with the healthy control group. No relationship was found between leptin and BDS, FIQ and SF-36 components of patients. Serum irisin levels of patients with FMS had no significant differences compared with healthy control group. There was no significant relationship between the irisin and serum leptin levels. When compared the values of ESR, CRP, hsCRP, NLO with FMS patients and healthy controls, there were no significant difference found between them. There were no significant correlation between inflammatory markers and levels of serum leptin and irisin. Discussion: Higher serum leptin levels in patients with FMS which were determined, suggesting that leptin may play a role in the pathogenesis of this disease. There was no relationship between leptin and BDS, FIQ, SF-36 components, suggesting that leptin is not an indicator of disease activity in FMS. Also, there was not found significant differences between FMS patients and healthy controls in serum levels of irisin. Therefore, this study which we made the first time showed that irisin which is a myokine, has no significant role in the pathogenesis of FMS. However, we suggest that new researches should be done with more homogen and large groups of patients. Key words: Fibromyalgia syndrome, leptin, irisin, inflammation