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Is early life exposure to polyomaviruses and herpesviruses associated with obesity indices and metabolic traits in childhood?

International Journal of Obesity volume 42, pages 1590–1601 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Evidence for an infectious origin of obesity is emerging. We explored whether common viruses were associated with obesity and metabolic traits.

Methods

We used cross-sectional (n = 674) and prospective (n = 440) data from children participating at the 4 and 6 years of age follow-up in the Rhea birth cohort. Presence of IgG antibodies to ten polyomaviruses (BKPyV, JCPyV, KIPyV, WUPyV, HPyV6, HPyV7, TSPyV, MCPyV, HPyV9, and HPyV10) and four herpesviruses (EBV, CMV, HSV-1, and HSV-2) were measured at age 4. Body mass index, waist circumference, and skinfold thickness were measured at age 4 and 6. Data on serum lipids, leptin, and adiponectin were also available. Multivariable linear regression models were used to explore the associations.

Results

At 4 years of age, seroprevalence to polyomaviruses ranged from 21.0% for HPyV9 to 82.0% for HPyV10. Seroprevalence for EBV, CMV, HSV-1, and HSV-2 was 53.0%, 26.0%, 3.6%, and 1.5% respectively. BKPyV seropositivity was associated with lower BMI SD score at age 4 [−0.21 (95% CI: −0.39, −0.03)] and 6 [−0.27 (95% CI:-0.48, −0.05)], waist circumference at age 4 [−1.12 cm (95% CI: −2.10, −0.15)] and 6 [−1.73 cm (95% CI: −3.33, −0.12)], sum of four skinfolds [−2.97 mm (95% CI: −5.70, −0.24)], and leptin levels at age 4 [ratio of geometric means, 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.98)]. CMV seropositivity was associated with higher BMI SD score at age 4 [0.28 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.45)] and 6 [0.24 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.45)] and sum of four skinfolds at age 6 [4.75 mm (95% CI: 0.67, 8.83)]. Having “2–3 herpesviruses infections” (versus “0 herpesvirus infections”) was associated with higher BMI SD score [0.32, (95% CI: 0.12, 0.53)], waist circumference [1.22 cm (95% CI: 0.13, 2.31)], and sum of four skinfolds [3.26 mm (95% CI: 0.18, 6.35)] at age 4. Polyomaviruses burden was not associated with outcomes.

Conclusions

A higher herpesviruses burden and CMV seropositivity were associated with obesity traits in childhood.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the European Union Social Fund and the Hellenic Ministry of Health (“Program of prevention and early diagnosis of obesity and neurodevelopment disorders in preschool age children in the prefecture of Heraklion, Crete, Greece “MIS number 349580, NSRF 2007–2013); Partial support for the development of this work was received from Spanish public grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grants FIS PI11/01810 and CIBERESP) and from the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (grant 2014 SGR 756).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion, Greece

    Marianna Karachaliou, Theano Roumeliotaki, Katerina Sarri, Vasiliki Leventakou, Marina Vafeiadi, Georgia Chalkiadaki & Leda Chatzi

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 08036, Madrid, Spain

    Silvia de Sanjose & Manolis Kogevinas

  3. Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme, Catalan Institute of Oncology, L’Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), 08908, Barcelona, Spain

    Silvia de Sanjose

  4. Molecular Diagnostics of Oncogenic Infections Division, Infection, Inflammation and Cancer Program, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Tim Waterboer, Angelika Michel & Michael Pawlita

  5. Department of Health Sciences Research, Division of Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic, 55905, Rochester, MN, USA

    Maria Vassilaki

  6. Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University Hospital of Heraklion, 71110, Heraklion, Greece

    Eftichia Stiakaki

  7. ISGlobal, Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain

    Manolis Kogevinas

  8. Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Manolis Kogevinas

  9. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain

    Manolis Kogevinas

  10. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Leda Chatzi

  11. Department of Genetics & Cell Biology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

    Leda Chatzi

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  1. Marianna Karachaliou
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Correspondence to Marianna Karachaliou.

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Dr. Vassilaki receives research funding from Roche outside of current study. The remaining authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Karachaliou, M., de Sanjose, S., Waterboer, T. et al. Is early life exposure to polyomaviruses and herpesviruses associated with obesity indices and metabolic traits in childhood?. Int J Obes 42, 1590–1601 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0017-1

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