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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #222028
Title: Inflammatory markers are elevated in overweight Mexican-American children

Author
item MCFARLIN, BRIAN - UNIV HOUSTON
item JOHNSTON, CRAIG - BAYLOR COLLEGE MED
item TYLER, CHERMAINE - BAYLOR COLLEGE MED
item HUTCHISON, ALEXANDER - UNIV HOUSTON
item KUEHT, MICHAEL - UNIV HOUSTON
item REEVES, REBECCA - BAYLOR COLLEGE MED
item Foreyt, John

Submitted to: International Journal of Pediatric Obesity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2007
Publication Date: 8/29/2007
Citation: McFarlin, B.K., Johnston, C.A., Tyler, C., Hutchison, A.T., Kueht, M.L., Reeves, R., Foreyt, J.P. 2007. Inflammatory markers are elevated in overweight Mexican-American children. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. 2(4):235-241.

Interpretive Summary: This study compares the effect of body weight on blood lipid profile, insulin resistance, and inflammatory biomarkers in Mexican-American children. Results indicate that overweight children had a higher plasma concentration of inflammatory biomarkers than healthy weight children. The authors suggest that this is the first study to report that sCD14, a plasma protein that mediates activation of inflammatory pathyways in variety of cells, is also higher in overweight Mexican-American children than in healthy weight Mexican-American children.

Technical Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of body weight on blood lipid profile, insulin resistance, and inflammatory biomarkers in Mexican-American children. Children (13.3 +/- 0.1 year) were recruited from a local school and assigned to one of three groups as a volunteer sample: healthy weight (HW) (>=10th and <85th BMI percentile; n = 42), at risk of overweight (RO) (>=85th and <95th; n = 25), or overweight (OW) (>=95th; n = 42). Plasma concentrations of hsCRP, sCD14, sIL-6R, sTNF-(alpha)R1, sTNF-(alpha)R2, IL-6, and TNF-alpha were determined by ELISA. OW children had significantly greater plasma concentrations of hsCRP (P = 0.003), sCD14 (P = 0.013), sIL-6R (P = 0.010), sTNF-(alpha)R1 (P < 0.001), sTNF-(alpha)R2 (P = 0.005), insulin (P = 0.001), TC:HDL ratio (P < 0.001), and triglycerides (P < 0.001) than HW children. Also plasma concentrations of hsCRP, sIL-6R, and sTNF-(alpha)R1 were significantly greater in OW compared with RO children. Overweight Mexican-American children had a higher concentration of inflammatory biomarkers than healthy weight children. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report that sCD14 is elevated in overweight compared with healthy weight Mexican-American children.