RETN and chronic hepatitis B virus infection: Contrary to these results, the study of Tsochatzis et al. [18] showed that serum resistin levels were lower in patients with severe liver fibrosis, as well as that resistin levels are independently associated with fibrosis severity in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C infection, but it remained unclear to the authors whether lower levels of resistin in advanced fibrosis represent a marker of disease severity or whether resistin is directly implicated in disease progression.