THE ROLE OF ADIPOKINES IN CONNECTIVE TISSUE DISEASES.

Connective tissue diseases (CTD) are a clinically and serologically diverse group of chronic immuno-inflammatory conditions whose complex pathomechanisms remain largely undefined. Adipokines (adipocitokines) are peptides or proteins which exhibit potential immunomodulatory properties. Recently, it has been stated that the secretory activity of white adipose tissue could play a notable role in the development or progression of certain types of disease-related organ injury in CTD, as demonstrated in both human subjects as well as animal models. In systemic lupus erythematosus, cathepsin-S and chemerin titers have been found to be higher in patients with neuropsychiartric manifestations, whereas omentin-1 levels has been found to have a lower expression in patients without kidney involvement. Moreover, the blockade of the cathepsin-S signaling pathway has been shown to associate with favorable outcomes in murine models of lupus nephritis. Research showed that patients with dermatomyositis may exhibit elevated circulating values of adiponectin and resistin, but not leptin. Additionally, visfatin gene expression was found to be higher in both adult and pediatric patients with dermatomyositis compared to healhy controls. In animal models of systemic sclerosis, adiponectin (which is thought to be a predominantly anti-inflammatory adipokine) has been associated with reduced fibrotic changes. While the results reported in the currently available literature do not imply causation, the issue of elucidating the link between adipokine expression and CTD pathogenesis remains intriguing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]