Preptin, PPARγ, and NLRP3 as inflammatory biomarkers in pediatric obesity - a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity leads to an increased inflammatory response, which in the long term can lead to serious health problems such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, and may also increase the risk of obesity in adulthood. Our aim was to evaluate inflammatory markers associated with pediatric obesity in 30 healthy children (BMI between the 15th–85th percentiles) and 30 obese children (BMI > 95th percentile) and to determine the possible associations of these markers. METHODS: Anthropometric measurements of the children were obtained. The serum preptin, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), nod-like receptor pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), and interleukin-18 (IL-18) levels of thirty children with obesity and thirty healthy children were determined using ELISA. RESULTS: NLPR3, preptin, and PPARγ levels were greater obese children than in healthy children (p < 0.05). We have shown that high PPARγ levels may have an inhibitory effect on the inflammatory activation of NLRP3. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, the changes observed in preptin, NLRP3 and PPARγ parameters were found to be closely associated with pediatric obesity. These molecules may play an important role in understanding the relationship between pediatric obesity and inflammation and may be used as biomarkers in determining obesity treatment and complications in future studies.