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World J Diabetes. Sep 15, 2021; 12(9): 1507-1517
Published online Sep 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i9.1507
Salivary resistin level and its association with insulin resistance in obese individuals
Mona Mohamed Ibrahim Abdalla
Mona Mohamed Ibrahim Abdalla, Human Biology Department, School of Medicine, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia
Author contributions: Abdalla MMI collected the data and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mona Mohamed Ibrahim Abdalla, MBBS, MSc, MD, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Human Biology Department, School of Medicine, International Medical University, 126, Jln Jalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia. monamohamed@imu.edu.my
Received: January 22, 2021
Peer-review started: January 22, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 11, 2021
Accepted: July 15, 2021
Article in press: July 15, 2021
Published online: September 15, 2021
Processing time: 227 Days and 14.2 Hours
Abstract

The escalating global burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus necessitates the implementation of strategies that are both more reliable and faster in order to improve the early identification of insulin resistance (IR) in high-risk groups, including overweight and obese individuals. The use of salivary biomarkers offers a promising alternative to serum collection because it is safer, more comfortable, and less painful to obtain saliva samples. As obesity is the foremost contributory factor in IR development, the adipocytokines such as leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and visfatin secreted from the adipose tissue have been studied as potential reliable biomarkers for IR. Measurement of salivary adipokines as predictors for IR has attracted widespread attention because of the strong correlation between their blood and salivary concentrations. One of the adipokines that is closely related to IR is resistin. However, there are conflicting findings on resistin’s potential role as an etiological link between obesity and IR and the reliability of measuring salivary resistin as a biomarker for IR. Hence this study reviewed the available evidence on the potential use of salivary resistin as a biomarker for IR in order to attempt to gain a better understanding of the role of resistin in the development of IR in obese individuals.

Keywords: Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance; Insulin resistance; Obesity; Salivary resistin; Diabetes; Adipocytokines

Core Tip: The worldwide increased prevalence of obesity-induced insulin resistance (IR) highlights the limitations of the long-term, invasive methods currently being used in detecting and monitoring IR. Measurement of salivary concentrations of adipokines such as resistin offers a good alternative to serum collection for early detection and monitoring of glycaemic control among obese individuals. However, there are conflicting findings on the association between resistin and IR. Hence this review of the available evidence aims to provide a better understanding of the role of resistin in the development of IR and the potential use of salivary resistin as a biomarker for IR.