Letter

A protective effect of obesity showing that increased adiposity protects against radiographic joint damage in patients with rheu-matoid arthritis (RA) has been reported. 1 2 Recently, adipokines were suggested as a molecular link explaining this paradoxical association. 3 – 5 The levels of serum adiponectin and visfatin have been shown to be associated with increased, radiographic joint damage in RA, while leptin is associated with reduced radio-graphic joint damage. 4 5 Therefore, we tested whether tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) inhibitor therapy, which prevents joint damage in majority of patients with RA, may be associated with a change in the local production of adipokines in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). SAT samples were obtained from the same abdominal region by aspiration with a bioptic needle in nine patients with RA prior to and 6 months after the treatment with etanercept. Adipose tissue samples were washed in saline and snap- frozen in liquid nitrogen before being stored at −80°C. The tissue lysates were prepared by homogenising 100 mg adipose tissue in 400 μl lysi