1 INTRODUCTION In recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on the key role of adipokines in physiological and pathological situations (Tarchi, Garella, et al., 2024). These pleiotropic hormones, typically produced by white adipose tissue, have been proposed as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and staging of a variety of clinical conditions (Kishida et al., 2014; Mather & Goldberg, 2014), as well as prognostic biomarkers of treatment response (Kusminski & Scherer, 2009).
