Evaluation of Circulating Chitotriosidase Activity in Children with Obesity

Abstract

Childhood obesity progresses to metabolic disturbances via low-grade inflammation. Identifying novel molecules that reflect the activity of the immune responses is critical in understanding its underlying pathogenesis. Our exploratory study aimed to evaluate the change of chitotriosidase (CHIT1) plasma activity according to Body Mass Index (BMI)-for-age z score in pediatric patients. The study evaluated 68 children consisting of 47.1% girls with a mean age of 12.47 ± 3.71 years and 52.9% boys with a mean age of 11.93 ± 3.18 years. The effect of the most frequent CHIT1 gene variants, the 24 base pair duplication (dup24) and G102S polymorphism, upon the association between circulating CHIT1 activity and the obesity level, was also investigated. A significantly higher logCHIT1 plasma activity was found in children with extreme obesity than in children with overweight (p = 0.048 uncorrected CHIT1 and 0.026 corrected CHIT1). The BMI-for-age z score significantly (p = 0.031) predicts increased CHIT1 activity in children with overweight, obesity, and extreme obesity after controlling for the two gene variants, age, gender, and time since weight gain. Dup24 and G102S polymorphism were also significant independent predictors (p-values < 0.002) for CHIT1 plasma activity. Circulating CHIT1 might be an accurate indicator of inflammation in children with obesity. Its role should be validated in a larger cohort, and the effect of the dup24 and G102S variants on the CHIT1 activity should also be considered.

Exploratory Evaluation of Neopterin and Chitotriosidase as Potential Circulating Biomarkers for Colorectal Cancer

“…The enzyme is closely related to macrophage and neutrophilic activation. Chitotriosidase serum levels had higher values in patients with critical limb ischemia [ 21 ], diabetes mellitus [ 22 ], lysosomal storage disorders [ 23 ], overweight and obesity in children [ 24 ], breast or prostate cancer [ 20 ], and pulmonary diseases [ 25 , 26 ]. Patients with CRC had higher levels of chitinase (median = 21.13 ng/μL, IQR = (17.35–26.16)) than healthy controls (median = 17.21 ng/μL, IQR = (15.39–21.27); p < 0.0001) [ 27 ].…”

Obesity, Inflammation, Growth, and Metabolism: Evolution of Understanding and Evolving Functions of Old and New Peptides

“…From this point of view, increasing data collection confirms that the “metabolic phenotype” is driven mainly by insulin resistance, fat distribution and dyslipidemia more than by body weight per se [ 4 , 5 ]. Comprehension of the underlying mechanisms will further help prevention and treatment, as is the case for the recent description of increased chitotriosidase activity, along with many other markers [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Interestingly, chitinases can have many targets, including some relevant to host infection offering an interesting link for the increased mortality rate of obese subjects during severe infection.…”