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Elevated serum adiponectin associated with childhood NHL, poor prognosis
Results of a study conducted in Greek children showed that elevated levels of serum adiponectin, but not leptin, were a predictor for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and the likelihood for relapse.
Researchers collected blood serum samples from 121 children diagnosed with NHL from 1996 to 2006 and a similar number of healthy controls. The average age of patients was 8.8 years; 76% were boys.
The researchers said serum adiponectin levels were significantly higher in patients with NHL compared with healthy participants, but they observed “no significant difference” for leptin levels. The adjusted OR was 1.82 (95% CI, 1.30-2.56) for adiponectin compared with an OR of 1.05 (95% CI, 0.72-1.54) for leptin.
Leptin was similarly not found to be a prognostic factor for time to relapse or survival. However, higher adiponectin levels were associated with time to relapse (RR=1.56; 95% CI, 1.09-2.25), survival (RR=1.46; 95% CI, 1.03-2.08) and time of any unfavorable outcome (RR=1.51; 95% CI, 1.16-1.97).
“Addition to the survival model of relapse occurrence did not practically alter the results concerning adiponectin or the remaining covariates,” the researchers wrote. “Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that OS was 95% for children with lower adiponectin levels, whereas the corresponding survival decreased to 79% for children with high adiponectin levels.”
They added that adiponectin was inversely associated with age, height, weight and BMI, whereas leptin was positively correlated with weight and BMI.
Petridou ET. J Clin Oncol. 2009;doi:10.1200/JCO.2008.19.7525.