The effect of isotretinoin on insulin resistance and adipocytokine levels in acne vulgaris patients

Abstract

Background and Aim: Recent data draw attention to the effect of body composition, insulin resistance and adipocytokines to acne vulgaris (AV) development. The aim of this study to assess the association of AV with insulin resistance and adipocytokine levels and to evaluate the effect of isotretinoin on insulin resistance and adipocytokine levels. Material and Methods: In 29 AV patients and 29 healthy volunteers, body mass index (BMI) and body fat mass (BFM), lipid, adiponectin, leptin, resistin, retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) and insulin levels were measured and insulin resistance was assessed by HOMA-IR index in serum samples taken twice from patients before and after isotretinoin treatment. Results: In AV patients, pretreatment HOMA-IR and adipocytokine level was not found to correlate with disease severity. With five months of isotretinoin treatment, higher HOMA-IR values were found (p=0.028). Isotretinoin therapy maintained lower mean resistin levels (p = 0.016), higher mean RBP4 levels (p = 0.040), but not affected the mean adiponectin and leptin levels (p = 0.113, p = 0.125, respectively). Conclusions: All data suggests that five months of isotretinoin therapy in AV patients causes insulin resistance and the increase in insulin resistance is not dependent on age, BMI, BFM and lipid levels of these patients. Key words: Acne vulgaris, adipocytokine, insulin sensitivity