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Pediatrics

The effects of NAMPT haplotypes and metabolic risk factors on circulating visfatin/NAMPT levels in childhood obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 39, pages 130–135 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Polymorphisms in the NAMPT gene, which encodes the adipocytokine visfatin/nicotinamide phosphorybosil transferase (NAMPT), affect the circulating visfatin/NAMPT levels and are associated with obesity and cardiovascular diseases. However, no study has tested the hypothesis that NAMPT haplotypes could affect visfatin/NAMPT levels in case of childhood obesity. We investigated the effects of traditional metabolic risk factors (MRFs) and NAMPT polymorphisms T/C (rs1319501) and A/G (rs3801266) or haplotypes on visfatin/NAMPT levels in obese children and adolescents, and whether NAMPT polymorphisms and/or haplotypes are associated with susceptibility to childhood obesity.

Methods:

We studied 175 control, 99 obese and 82 obese with ⩾3 MRFs children and adolescents. Genotypes were determined by a Taqman allele discrimination assay and real-time PCR. The plasma visfatin/NAMPT level was measured using an enzyme immunoassay.

Results:

Obese children and adolescents with ⩾3 MRFs had higher plasma visfatin/NAMPT levels in comparison with control children and adolescents (P<0.05). Although positive associations were observed between visfatin/NAMPT and body mass index (rs=0.157; P=0.034) as well as visfatin/NAMPT and waist circumference (rs=0.192; P=0.011), visfatin/NAMPT and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were inversely associated (rs=−0.162; P=0.031). No significant differences in genotype, allele or haplotype frequency distributions for the studied polymorphisms were found when the three groups were compared. However, higher plasma visfatin/NAMPT levels were found in control and obese subjects carrying the GG genotype for the A/G (rs3801266) polymorphism (P<0.05) but not in obese children with ⩾3 MRFs. Moreover, control subjects carrying the ‘T-G’ haplotype showed higher plasma visfatin/NAMPT levels. NAMPT genotypes or haplotypes were not associated with childhood obesity.

Conclusions:

Obesity in children with ⩾3 MRFs increases plasma visfatin/NAMPT levels, and this marker was associated with body mass index and waist circumference. The A/G polymorphism and NAMPT haplotypes affect plasma visfatin/NAMPT levels in controls but not in obese children with ⩾3 MRFs. These results suggest that obesity and MRFs are more influential than genetic polymorphisms in the determination of visfatin/NAMPT levels in obese children. Further research is necessary to explain why the GG genotype is not associated with increased visfatin/NAMPT levels in obese children with ⩾3 MRFs.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP-Brazil) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-Brazil).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

    V A Belo, M R Luizon, R Lacchini, D C Souza-Costa & J E Tanus-Santos

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    J A Miranda

  3. Department of Physiology, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    C M M Lanna

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  1. V A Belo
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Belo, V., Luizon, M., Lacchini, R. et al. The effects of NAMPT haplotypes and metabolic risk factors on circulating visfatin/NAMPT levels in childhood obesity. Int J Obes 39, 130–135 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.173

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