Soluble CRTC3: A Newly Identified Protein Released by Adipose Tissue That Is Associated with Childhood Obesity

CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 3 (CRTC3) is found in adipocytes, where it may promote obesity through disruption of catecholamine signaling. We wished to assess whether CRTC3 is a soluble protein secreted by adipose tissue, explore whether CRTC3 is detectable and quantifiable in the circulation, and ascertain whether CRTC3 serum concentrations are related to metabolic markers in children.

Explants of adipose tissue from 12 children were cultured to study adipocyte cell size and the secretion of CRTC3 (immunoblot and ELISA). We also performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal study in 211 asymptomatic prepubertal white children at age 7 years, 115 of whom were followed up at age approximately 10 years. We measured circulating concentrations of CRTC3 and studied associations between serum CRTC3 and metabolic markers.

Measurable concentrations of CRTC3 were found in conditioned media of adipose tissue explants and in serum samples. CRTC3 concentrations in visceral adipose tissue were negatively associated with adipocyte cell size and positively related to adipocyte cell number (P < 0.05). In the cross-sectional study, higher CRTC3 concentrations were associated with higher body mass index (P = 0.001), waist circumference (P = 0.003), and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.007) and lower high molecular weight adiponectin (P = 0.003). In the longitudinal study, serum concentrations of CRTC3 at age approximately 7 years were associated with changes in waist circumference (β = 0.254; P = 0.004; r = 0.145) and high molecular weight adiponectin (β=-0.271; P = 0.014; r = 0.101), respectively, at age approximately 10 years.

CRTC3, a newly identified protein that is related to childhood obesity, is present in the circulation, partly as a result of adipose tissue secretion. Higher serum CRTC3 concentrations are related to and predict a poorer metabolic profile in children.