Leptin and adiponectin, two fat tissue hormones, are increased or tend to be increased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).^1,2 They are likely to be stimulated by proinflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF),^3,4 and both were found to be increased in the synovial fluid of patients with RA.^1,2 Thus, one would expect lowering of serum levels of these two hormones during anti-TNF antibody treatment.

As part of a recently published study with adalimumab (Abbott SpA, Campoverde di Aprilia, Italy),⁵ we included 32 white patients with RA (30 postmenopausal women, two men) fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology criteria for RA.⁶ The patients were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the adalimumab Research in Active RA study (ReAct). A total of 16 patients (15 female, one male) did not receive parallel or prior (6 months before) prednisolone treatment. The other 16 patients (15 female, one male) received prednisolone …