Adiponectin concentration in the orbital fat of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

BACKGROUND: "Graves' ophthalmopathy" (GO), is an inflammatory disease of the orbit, with extensive adipose tissue involvement. Previous studies of orbital fat derived from such patients have demonstrated overexpression of the adiponectin gene and messenger RNA. AIM: The study reported here aimed to measure the protein concentration of orbital adipose tissue adiponectin in GO patients, in comparison to healthy controls. METHODS: This was a prospective study. Orbital samples from ten healthy controls undergoing blepharoplasty and five patients with GO undergoing orbital fat decompression for proptosis were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The mean adiponectin concentration in samples from GO patients was 121.9 ± 29.5 ng/mL (mean ± standard deviation), versus 107.9 ± 26.6 ng/mL in the control group (P=0.20). CONCLUSION: This study was unable to demonstrate a statistically significant difference in adiponectin protein concentrations between the two studied groups.