Evaluation of serum resistin levels in patients with ocular and non-ocular Behcet's disease

Background: Resistin, a recently identified adipocytokine, has been found to play an important role in inflammation and the processes of inflammation-related diseases. Serum resistin levels in patients with Behcet's disease (BD) have not yet been investigated. We aimed to evaluate the relation between resistin and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in Behcet patients with or without ocular involvement and in normal controls. Methods: Twenty-two patients with BID and 19 healthy control subjects were included in this study. While 14 patients had posterior segment involvement of the eye, the other 8 did not have ocular disease. Serum resistin and interleukin-6 (IL-6), levels were measured in all samples. Data from all groups were tested for statistical significance. Results: The mean resistin and IL-6 concentrations were significantly higher in patients with BD than the control subjects (p = 0.011 and p = 0.0001, respectively). There was a significant difference in resistin and IL-6 levels between the patients with non-ocular BID and controls (p = 0.013 and p = 0.0001, respectively), as well as resistin and IL-6 levels between the ocular BD group and the control group (p = 0.05 and p = 0.0001, respectively). However, there was no significant difference between patients with ocular versus non-ocular BID.