Hyperleptinaemia of end-stage renal disease is corrected by renal transplantation

Background. Previous studies have reported that patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have elevated plasma leptin concentrations, but the cause and significance of the elevations are unknown. We studied leptin concentrations in 29 adults undergoing renal transplantation, to determine if restoration of renal function reduced leptin concentrations in ESRD. Methods. Leptin concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in plasma specimens collected within 1 week before transplant, 6 days post-transplant, and 60 days post-transplant. Results. Mean plasma leptin concentrations were higher in both male and female ESRD patients compared with a control population of similar age and body mass index (BMI), but most of the disparity was due to a minority of patients with grossly elevated concentrations; the majority of ESRD patients had normal or near-normal leptin concentrations after accounting for their adiposity with BMI. Six days after successful renal transplantation, average plasma leptin concentrations decreased to control levels. The grossly elevated pretransplant concentrations in a minority of patients were greatly reduced in relation to BMI, and the reduction persisted to 60 days post-transplant. The decrease in creatinine with transplant did not correlate with the decrease in leptin. Conclusions. These results demonstrate that restoration of renal function in ESRD patients reduces hyperleptinaemia, which provides further evidence of a cause/effect relationship between impaired renal function and abnormal leptin metabolism.