Resistin mRNA expression in fat and placental tissue of

patients with gestational diabetes

Michal Szamatowicz1, Natalia Wawrusiewicz-Kurylonek2, Mariusz Kuzmicki1, Beata Telejko2, Juliusz
Wilk2, Justyna Pliszka2, Danuta Lipinska2, Jacek Szamatowicz1, Adam Kretowski2 & Maria Gorska2

Author affiliations

Introduction: Resistin is a cysteine–rich adipokine that was originally described as a molecular link between
obesity and insulin resistance. Our previous study showed higher serum resistin levels in patients with
gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in comparison with healthy pregnant women however conflicting results
have been reported by other authors. Therefore in the present study we investigated whether there were
significant differences in resistin mRNA expression in adipose and placental tissue obtained from pregnant
women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and GDM.

Methods: Resistin, adiponectin and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) mRNA expression was measured in paired samples of
subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and placental tissue from 21 patients with
GDM and 21 healthy pregnant controls, using quantitative RT-PCR.

Results: The patients with GDM had significantly higher resistin mRNA expression in placental tissue (P=0.03)
and lower adiponectin mRNA expression in VAT (P=0.039), whereas IL-6 mRNA expression did not differ
markedly between the groups studied. Resistin mRNA expression in SAT and VAT correlated positively with
IL-6 mRNA (R=0.54, P=0.0004 and R=0.44, P=0.009 respectively) and negatively with adiponectin mRNA
expression (R=−0.35, P=0.03 and R=−0.39, P=0.02 respectively), whereas resistin mRNA expression in
placental tissue was positively associated with IL-6 mRNA (R=0.68, P=0.00001), HOMA-IR (R=0.42, P=0.03)
and newborn weight (R=0.40, P=0.02).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that elevated resistin expression in placental tissue might be associated
with insulin resistance and low grade inflammation in women with GDM.