Serum Appetite-Regulating Hormone Levels in Cystic Fibrosis Patients: Influence of the Disease Severity and the Type of Bacterial Infection-A Pilot Study

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 1851
• Main Authors: Galiniak, Sabina, Podgórski, Rafał, Rachel, Marta, Mazur, Artur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-04-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Appetite; Bacteria; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Infections - complications; Blood; Body fat; Body mass index; Chronic infection; Complications and side effects; Cystic fibrosis; Cystic Fibrosis - complications; Development and progression; Diabetes; endocrine system; Ghrelin; Health aspects; Hereditary diseases; Homeostasis; Hormones; Humans; Inflammation; Interleukin 6; Kiss1 protein; Leptin; Lung diseases; Malnutrition; Melanocyte-stimulating hormone; Mutation; Neuropeptide Y; Patient Acuity; Patients; Peptides; Physiological aspects; Pilot Projects; Proopiomelanocortin; Proteins; Risk factors; Spirometry; Staphylococcus infections; Undernutrition; Poland; United States > US; endocrine system; appetite; hormones; cystic fibrosis
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15081851

Cystic fibrosis (CF) belongs to the most common inherited diseases. The severity of the disease and chronic bacterial infections are associated with a lower body index, undernutrition, higher number of pulmonary exacerbations, more hospital admissions, and increased mortality. The aim of our study was to determine the impact of the severity of the disease and the type of bacterial infection in 38 CF patients on the serum level of appetite-regulating hormones including leptin, ghrelin, neuropeptide Y, agouti-signaling protein, proopiomelanocortin, kisspeptin, putative protein Y, and α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The patients were divided according to the severity of the disease according to spirometry and the type of chronic bacterial infection. We found that leptin level was significantly higher in patients with severe CF than in patients with mild disease (20.02 ± 8.09 vs. 12.38 ± 6.03 ng/mL,
= 0.028). Furthermore, leptin level was elevated in patients with chronic infection with
compared to uninfected participants (15.74 ± 7.02 vs. 9.28 ± 1.72 ng/mL,
= 0.043). The severity of the disease and the type of bacterial infection did not affect the levels of other appetite-regulating hormones. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 and leptin level (
= 0.0426, R = 0.333). Taken together, our results indicate that both the severity of the disease and the type of bacterial infection are associated with elevated leptin levels in CF patients. Future CF treatment strategies should consider possible disturbances in the hormones that regulate appetite and the factors that influence their levels.