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.