The relationship between the serum leptin and insulin resistance in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients

Objective To investigate the relationship between leptin and insulin resistance by detecting the changes in serum levels of leptin.Methods Blood samples were collected from 30 consecutive patients with liver biopsy-proven NAFLD and 30 persons with biopsy-proven normal liver as controls.Serum leptin levels was determined by RIA.Body mass index(BMI)was calculated for all subjects.Serum insulin,C-peptide and lipoprotein levels were also detected.Results Serum leptin level,BMI,insulin and HOMA IR in the NAFLD were significantly higher than controls(P0.05).Both men and women in the NAFLD had higher serum leptin level than the men and women subjects of the controls(P0.05).Multivariate analysis showed serum leptin level was independently related to HOMA IR.Conclusion Insulin resistance may be enhanced by leptin,it suggests leptin is closely associated with NAFLD.