Visfatin/PBEF/Nampt and Other Adipocytokines in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Etiopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic devastating conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, remains unclear. As a consequence, the effective and safe treatment strategy and ideal biochemical disease marker are still missing. IBD are associated with many nutritional problems (cachexia, micro- and macroelements deficiencies) and additionally there is an abnormal visceral fat structure in Crohn's disease. Thus, potential involvement of adipocytokines, fat-derivate mediators, in the development of inflammatory bowel disease is extensively studied. List of adipocytokines is growing and currently involves: visfatin/PBEF/Nampt, resistin, adiponectin, apelin, leptin, hepcidin, vaspin, chemerin, omentin, and RBP-4. Adipocytokines possess pleiotropic properties. Visfatin/PBEF/ Nampt acts as a cytokine, growth factor and enzyme. It is suggested that visfatin/PBEF/Nampt participates in the development of inflammation-related bone disease. Elucidation of role of adipocytokines in inflammatory bowel disease requires further studies (Adv Clin Exp Med 2010, 19, 3, 399-404).