The role of the novel adipocyte-derived protein adiponectin in human disease: an update.

Adiponectin is a collagen-like protein expressed in adipose tissue. Low serum adiponectin is associated with insulin resistance, atherogenic hyperlipidemia and arterial hypertension. High serum adiponectin predicted a reduced risk of myocardial infarction. Other surveys have shown that high levels of serum adiponectin were a predictor of future cardiovascular disease and mortality. These paradoxical findings might be explained through the concept of the reversal epidemiology in the adiponectin physiology. According to this hypothesis, this protein would behave as an insulin sensitizing and cardioprotective factor in the health state and as a wasting marker in the advanced states of disease.