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Updated: Mar 24, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
α-Defensins and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein as new markers of childhood obesity
A Prats-Puig1,2,3, M Gispert-Saüch1, G Carreras-Badosa1,2
1Dr Josep Trueta Hospital, Girona, Spain.
Insights
Alpha-defensins and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein may serve as indicators of childhood obesity. Higher alpha-defensin levels in children may predict increased body mass index and abdominal fat accumulation.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Cardiovascular Health
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern with long-term cardiovascular implications.
- Identifying early biomarkers for obesity and associated risks is crucial for timely intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between alpha-defensins (α-defensins) and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in prepubertal children.
- To determine if these proteins can serve as predictive markers for childhood obesity.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs were employed with a total of 250 and 91 children, respectively.
- Measurements included plasma α-defensins, BPI, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, systolic blood pressure (SBP), carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), HOMA-IR, and HMW-adiponectin.
Main Results:
- Higher α-defensin concentrations positively correlated with BMI, waist circumference, SBP, cIMT, and HOMA-IR, while negatively correlating with HMW-adiponectin in the cross-sectional analysis.
- BPI concentrations showed inverse associations with these parameters.
- In the longitudinal study, α-defensins at age 7 predicted BMI and waist circumference at age 10.
Conclusions:
- α-Defensins and BPI may function as potential biomarkers for childhood obesity.
- Elevated α-defensin levels could indicate a predisposition to increased BMI and abdominal adiposity in children, suggesting their utility in early risk assessment.
Objectives:
The aim of this paper is to test whether α-defensins and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein were related to obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in prepubertal children.
Methods:
Plasma α-defensins and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, systolic blood pressure (SBP), carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), HOMA-IR and HMW-adiponectin were assessed.
Results:
In a cross-sectional study (N = 250), higher α-defensins concentrations were positively associated with BMI, waist, SBP, cIMT, HOMA-IR and negative correlated with HMW-adiponectin (all between r = 0.191 and r = 0.377, p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.0001). Conversely, plasma bacterial/permeability-increasing protein concentrations presented inversed associated with the same parameters (all between r = -0.124 and r = -0.329; p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.0001). In a longitudinal study (N = 91), α-defensins at age 7 were associated with BMI (β = 0.189, p = 0.002; model R2 = 0.847) and waist (β = 0.241, pthinsp;= 0.001; model R2 = 0.754) at age 10.
Conclusions:
α-Defensins and bacterial/permeability-increasing protein may be the markers of childhood obesity. Increased concentrations of α-defensins may predict BMI and abdominal fat deposition in children.
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