Resistin is a novel peptide which is known to be an adipocyte-derived cytokine. It belongs to resistin like molecule family. It was revealed that resistin is an important link between obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. After that, several investigations showed the important physiological activities of resistin apart from its role in insulin resistance and diabetes in many pathological conditions as cardiovascular diseases (as coronary thrombosis), malignancy, endothelial dysfunction, hypertension, thrombosis, angiogenesis, inflammation, asthma, autoimmune disease, atherosclerosis and chronic kidney disease. Moreover, several studies have underlined it's participation in reproductive functions. It is well known that resistin expression is recorded in murine white adipose tissue but in human its expression is noticed in monocytes and macrophages. The mechanism of action, receptors and signaling pathways are beginning to be distinguished. In the present review, the present data concerning the discovery, structure, tissue distribution and functional role of resistin is summarized.