Biomedical & Pharmacology Journal Vol. 8(Spl. Edn.), 145-147 (Oct. 2015) Is Resistin A Biomarker for Periodontitis - An Insight BHUVANESWARI BIRLA BOSE 1 , N. ARAVINDHA BABU 2 and K. M. K. MASTHAN 2 1 Department of Periodontics, Tagore Dental College & Hospital, India. 2 Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, Bharath University , Chennai, India. Corresponding author E-mail: bhuvanabirla@gmail.com DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bpj/666 (Received: August 15, 2015; accepted: September 20, 2015) ABSTRACT Resistin is a recently discovered adipocytokine, having a potent biomarker quality. Initially resistin was thought to be produced by adipocytes alone; however, emerging evidence suggests that it is also produced in abundance by various cells of the immunoinflammatory system, indicating its role in various chronic inflammatory diseases. Data suggests that resistin plays a role in obesity, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, and periodontitis. Resistin derived its name from the original observation that it induced insulin resistance (resist-in: resist insulin) in mice and is downregulated in mature murine adipocytes cultured in the presence of insulin sensitizing drugs like thiazolidinediones. It is well recognized that obesity, is associated with insulin resistance and diabetes. Research shows incremental elevation of resistin with periodontal disease activity and a reduced level of resistin, after periodontal therapy. Thus resistin would be one of the molecular links connecting obesity, periodontitis, and diabetes and may serve as a marker that links periodontal disease with other systemic diseases. Key words: Resistin, adipocytokine, periodontitis, obesity, biomarker. INTRODUCTION Periodontitis is a common oral disease of multifactorial etiology wherein microbial pathogens play an important role. Plaque bacteria and its products such as endotoxins elicit the host immunoinflammatory response. This immunoinflammatory response against the microbes, in an attempt to wall off the infection re- sults in the local tissue destruction by producing various proinflammatory mediators such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) á and interleukin (IL) 1, IL 6 etc. 1 These proinflammatory mediators in addition to local tissue destruction also exert certain systemic effects. 2 Obesity which is another important risk factor for type 2 diabetes has also been linked to periodontitis. 3 Obesity is characterized by increase in the adipose tissue which is an important source for various proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF- á, IL, visfatin, adiponectin and resistin. 4 Resistin is a cytokine involved in insulin resistance, inflammation, and immunity. Evidence suggests that resistin expression is elevated in diabetes and inflammatory diseases. Resistin is a recently identified adipocyte-derived hormone that has been shown to play a substantial role in the development of insulin resistance. 5 Clinicians over the years have been working on different biological markers to establish a link between periodontal diseases and various systemic conditions and to determine which of those patients are at risk to develop the latter. Substances such as C-reactive protein (CRP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-5ØüÞ), and prostaglandin (PGE 2 ) have been extensively assayed for periodontitis leading to other