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Transcriptome analysis in blood cells from children reveals potential early biomarkers of metabolic alterations

International Journal of Obesity volume 41, pages 1481–1488 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives:

The development of effective strategies to prevent childhood obesity and its comorbidities requires new, reliable early biomarkers. Here, we aimed to identify in peripheral blood cells potential transcript-based biomarkers of unhealthy metabolic profile associated to overweight/obesity in children.

Methods:

We performed a whole-genome microarray analysis in blood cells to identify genes differentially expressed between overweight and normal weight children to obtain novel transcript-based biomarkers predictive of metabolic complications.

Results:

The most significant enriched pathway of differentially expressed genes was related to oxidative phosphorylation, for which most of genes were downregulated in overweight versus normal weight children. Other genes were involved in carbohydrate metabolism/glucose homoeostasis or in lipid metabolism (for example, TCF7L2, ADRB3, LIPE, GIPR), revealing plausible mechanisms according to existing biological knowledge. A set of differentially expressed genes was identified to discriminate in overweight children those with high or low triglyceride levels.

Conclusions:

Functional microarray analysis has revealed a set of potential blood-cell transcript-based biomarkers that may be a useful approach for early identification of children with higher predisposition to obesity-related metabolic alterations.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the support provided by school boards, headmasters, teachers, school staff and communities, and for the effort of all study nurses and data managers. This work was done as part of the IDEFICS study (http://www.idefics.eu) and the I.Family Study (http://www.ifamilystudy.eu/). We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Community within the Sixth RTD Framework Programme Contract No. 016181 (FOOD) for the IDEFICS study and within the Seventh RTD Framework Programme Contract No. 266044 for the I.Family study. This work was also supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, CIBERobn. LBNB is a member of the European Research Network of Excellence NuGO (The European Nutrigenomics Organization, EU Contract: no. FP6-506360).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology (Nutrigenomics), University of the Balearic Islands and CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    J Sánchez, C Picó & A Palou

  2. Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS, Bremen, Germany

    W Ahrens & R Foraita

  3. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bremen (UNIHB), Bremen, Germany

    W Ahrens

  4. MVZ Eberhard & Partner Laboratoriumsmedizin, Dortmund, Germany

    A Fraterman

  5. GENUD Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad de Zaragoza, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Zaragoza, Spain

    L A Moreno

  6. Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    P Russo & A Siani

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on behalf of the IDEFICS and I Family Consortia

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Correspondence to C Picó.

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Sánchez, J., Picó, C., Ahrens, W. et al. Transcriptome analysis in blood cells from children reveals potential early biomarkers of metabolic alterations. Int J Obes 41, 1481–1488 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.132

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