Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are not related to resistin expression in human fat cells or skeletal muscle.

Resistin is secreted by rodent fat cells and was recently postulated to be an important link between obesity and insulin resistance. We examined Resistin gene expression with real-time RT-PCR in human isolated fat cells, adipose tissue, and muscle from 42 individuals of varying degrees of overweight and who had normal insulin sensitivity or were insulin-resistant or Type 2 diabetic. Resistin was not expressed in human muscle nor was it expressed in most human isolated fat cells or intact biopsies. No difference was found between normal, insulin-resistant, or Type 2 diabetic samples. However, a very low but specific Resistin expression could be demonstrated in isolated fat cells and intact adipose tissue from some individuals (n = 3 and n = 4, respectively). There was no evidence for the expression of splice variants in the human samples. Thus, Resistin does not seem to be an important link to insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes in human. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.