Background: Apelin has recently been considered as an adipokine secreted from visceral fat. Apelin and its receptor exist in many tissues including lung and play significant roles in many physiological and pathological activities. However, serum level of apelin-12 is unknown in smokers and in various types of lung malignancies. Therefore, the amount of this hormone in non-patient smokers and the correlation of apelin serum level with the types of lung cancer in smokers afflicted with lung cancer are evaluated in this study.
Methods: The amount of serum apelin-12 was measured in 63 patients (59 smokers and 4 non-smokers) with the variety of lung cancer and 61 age- and sex-matched controls (30 smokers and 31 non-smokers) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.
Findings: The amount of serum apelin-12 in non-patient smokers (2142.20 ± 843.61 ng/l) was significantly higher than healthy non-smokers (800.39 ± 336.01 ng/l, P < 0.05), and in the variety of lung malignancies, the amount of serum apelin-12 was 2205.54 ± 187.31 ng/l in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) which was a significant increase compared to 1088.00 ± 136.52 ng/l in adenocarcinoma, 797.25 ± 88.69 ng/l in small cell carcinoma, and 1000.37 ± 62.87 ng/l in other malignancies of lung.
Conclusion: The meaningful increase in apelin-12 levels of non-patient smokers can be considered as a risk factor for outbreaking of lung SCC in these people. Therefore, apelin-12 may be considered as a target in controlling lung SCC.
Keywords: Apelin; Smoking; Squamous cell carcinoma.