Circulating leptin levels and bone mineral density in children with biliary atresia.

AIM: To investigate circulating leptin levels in biliary atresia (BA) patients and the association of leptin with bone mineral density (BMD) and the severity of BA.

METHODS

We have examined 50 patients with BA and 15 matched healthy controls. Serum leptin, osteocalcin and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) levels were measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). BMD of the lumbar spine was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS

Serum leptin levels of BA patients were lower than those of healthy controls (2.7 +/- 0.3 vs. 7.1 +/- 1.7 ng/mL, p = 0.0001). Among the BA patients, serum leptin levels were significantly lower in patients with jaundice than patients without jaundice (1.7 +/- 0.2 vs. 3.4 +/- 0.4 ng/mL, p = 0.001). BMD of BA patients was correlated (p < 0.001) with leptin levels, age and BMI (r = 0.55, r = 0.75 and r = 0.58, respectively). The serum CTX levels were significantly higher in jaundice patients compared with jaundice-free patients and the healthy controls (0.6 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.2 +/- 0.1 ng/mL, p = 0.01), whereas the serum osteocalcin levels in BA patients were not different from those in the controls.

CONCLUSION

Circulating leptin levels are correlated with BMD and the presence of jaundice in BA, suggesting that the leptin may play a physiological role in maintaining bone mass of BA patients with jaundice.