CNR ExploRA

Articolo in rivista, 2019, ENG, 10.1016/j.numecd.2019.05.014

Plasma microRNA expression profiles are associated with early childhood obesity: results of the I.Family Study

Giuseppe Iacomino1, Paola Russo1, Pasquale Marena1, Fabio Lauria1, Antonella Venezia1, Nunzia Iannaccone1, Wolfgang Ahrens2, Stefaan De Henauw3, Pasquale De Luca4, Ronja Foraita2, Kathrin Günther2, Lauren Lissner5, Dénes Molnár6, Luis A Moreno7, Michael Tornaritis8, Toomas Veidebaum9, and Alfonso Siani1

1) Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, ISA-CNR, Italy; 2) Leibniz-Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology, BIPS, Germany; 3) University of Ghent, Belgium; 4) Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italy; 5) Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden; 6) Medical School, University of Pécs, Hungary; 7) University of Zaragoza, Spain; 8) Research and Education Institute of Child Health, Cyprus; 9) National Institute for Health Development, Estonia.

Background: Nearly ten years ago, the WHO reported the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide as a challenge for public health due the associated adverse consequences. Omic studies demonstrated that microRNA (miRNA) changes in tissues correlate with several diseases, including obesity. Other studies suggested a remarkable stability of miRNA also in blood, emphasing their potential as theranostic agents. Aim: This study investigated the profiles of circulating miRNAs in plasma samples of normal weight (n=159) and overweight/obese (n=149) children participating to the I.Family study, an EC funded study finalized to investigate the etiology of overweight, obesity and related disorders in children of eight European countries (www.ifamilystudy.eu). Differences in miRNA expression patterns with respect to anthropometric and biochemical variables were explored. Results: A high degree of variability in levels of circulating miRNAs was recognised among children from different countries. Several miRNAs differentially expressed in overweight/low grade obesity children were characterized (miR-551a and miR-501-5p up-regulated; miR-10b-5p, miR-191-3p, miR-215-5p and miR-874-3p down-regulated). ROC curves were constructed for confirmed miRNAs. Single miRNAs exhibited low AUC values with the highest values for miR-874-3p and miR-501-5p which in combination provided an interesting value (AUC=0.755). Pearson's analysis confirmed that miR-10b-5p, miR-215-5p, miR-501-5p, miR-551a, and miR-874-3p correlated with BMI z-score. Molecular interactions of obesity-associated miRNAs were also predicted. Computational analysis indicated that miRNAs act as key regulators of metabolism, playing pivotal roles in early stages of obesity by affecting multiple candidate genes. Conclusions: Although causal pathways cannot be definitely inferred it is conceivable that circulating miRNAs may be new biomarkers of early childhood obesity.

NMCD. Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (Testo stamp.) 29 (8), pp. 874–?