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Resistin is a secretory adipokine with proinflammatory properties in humans [1]. It has emerged during this decade as a promising inflammatory marker in various diseases [2]. This study aimed to investigate the role of serum resistin as a marker of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and its correlation with clinical, endoscopic, histological and inflammatory parameters of IBD. Forty patients with IBD (24 ulcerative colitis [UC], 16 Crohn’s disease [CD]) were included. The diagnosis of IBD was based on standard criteria [3]. Disease activity was evaluated with CD activity index score (CDAI) [4] in CD patients and with simple clinical colitis activity index (SCCAI) [5] in UC patients. These patients were compared to 20 age and sex-matched healthy controls. Serum resistin level was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The mean (SD) value of serum resistin was 20.3 (7.1) ng/mL in patients with CD and 26.1 (9.5) ng/mL in patients with UC; the value in controls was 10.2 (2.7) ng/mL (p<0.001). Resistin values were higher in patients with active disease in both groups. Serum resistin value was 25.8 (9.1) ng/mL (p<0.05) in patients with active CD (n=6), and 31.6 (8.7) ng/mL (p<0.001) in patients with active UC (n= 14). Total WBC count was higher in patients with active UC (14.8 [1.7]×10/mm; p<0.001) but not in active CD (9.0 [2.6]×10/mm). Serum resistin level did not correlate with colonoscopic or histological findings, but correlated with age, BMI, CDAI and ESR in patients with CD. In UC patients, it correlated with WBC count, SCCAI, ESR and CRP (Table 1). Stepwise multi-regression analysis showed that the most sensitive independent predictors of activity among patients with CD were combination of age >29.4 years with CRP (>28.9 nmol/L) (F ratio 312.996, p<0.001), while in UC, WBC > 11×10/mm and CRP>40 nmol/L were sensitive predictors of activity (F ratio 120.44, p<0.0001). Many authors have studied the role of CRP and ESR in IBD patients. Both CRP and ESR correlated well with disease activity but the correlation was better for CRP [6, 7]. In our study, elevated serum resistin level was detected in patients with IBD and was higher in patients with active disease. Karmiris et al. [8] and Konrad et al. [9] had reported similar results.We found that resistin level was correlated with CDAI and ESR in patients with CD, and with CAI, WBC count, ESR and CRP in UC. Konrad et al. [9] found that resistin levels were associated with WBC count, CRP and disease activity in IBD patients. In contrast, Karmiris et al. [8] did not find such an association. We conclude that although elevated serum resistin level is a marker of disease activity in patients with IBD, it cannot be used as an independent predictor of activity. N. A. Abdel Kader : F. A. Ali El-Din (*) Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt e-mail: [email protected]