Cytokine concentration in peripheral blood of patients with childhood obesity

Jia Mai^1,2Min Wang^1,2,3Ying Guo^1,2Ling Yang^1,2HongJian Xie^1,2Lan Mei^1,2ZiYao Zhu^1,2XiaoJuan Liu^1,2*

• ¹Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
• ²Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
• ³Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Obesity is marked by chronic inflammation, with research showing notable changes in cytokines. However, systematic investigations into cytokine level changes are still lacking. This study compared the concentrations of various cytokines in the peripheral blood of healthy controls and obese children. Peripheral blood samples from test cohort including 5 healthy children and 5 obesity children were used to evaluate concentration levels of 48 inflammatory cytokines by Bio-Plex assay. Diet-induced obese (DIO) mice used to assess whether there were significant differences in the expression of MIP-1b, PDGF-BB. Peripheral blood samples from validation cohort including 44 healthy children and 44 obesity children were used to evaluate concentration levels of MIP-1b, PDGF-BB, IP-10, IL-6, IL-9 and TNF-β. In the Bio-Plex assay, there were significant differences in MIP-1b and PDGF-BB levels between healthy and obesity children. Additionally, IP-10, IL-6, IL-9, and TNF-β exhibited a trend of difference between the two groups. However, no significant differences in MIP-1b and PDGF-BB levels were observed between control and DIO mice. Notably, we found that IL-6 exhibited a significant concentration difference between the serum of healthy and obesity children, suggesting the IL-6 may play a key role in the inflammatory response associated with obesity. In summary, our study emphasizes the importance of IL-6 and other cytokines in childhood obesity research and suggests that future investigations should further explore the specific roles of these cytokines in the pathophysiological states associated with obesity, aiming to provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity.