Elevated circulating plasma adiponectin in normal weight male patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is recognized as a multi-component disease these 
days. There is growing evidence that persistent low-grade systemic inflammation present in COPD may 
contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Adiponectin (APN) is a 
secretory protein synthesized by adipocytes and has important anti-inflammatory as well as anti
atherosclerotic and anti-obesity effects，while little is known before regarding the importance of APN in 
pulmonary inflammation of human or animal subjects and to determine whether hyperadiponectinemia 
could be an underlying mechanism for COPD and whether there is a relationship between plasma 
adiponectin level and pulmonary function. Plasma samples were obtained from 68 normal weight male 
patients with stable COPD and 36 healthy control subjects. Plasma concentrations of APN were 
measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pulmonary function testing and body mass index 
(BMI) were performed in all patients and control subjects. We found that plasma adiponectin levels in 
patients with stable COPD were significantly higher than that in control subjects (18.6 ± 2.4 μg/mL vs. 
4.2 ± 0.8 μg/mL, P＜0.01). There was no correlation between adiponectin and FEV1, FEV1/FVC in COPD 
patients. Our data indicate that COPD patients exhibited higher plasma APN levels compared with 
healthy control subjects, suggesting a peculiar role for this protein in COPD pathogenesis.