Exploring the Role of Serum Osteonectin and Hsp27 in Pediatric MAFLD Diagnosis and Cardiometabolic Health

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 16; no. 6; p. 866
• Main Authors: Bălănescu, Anca, Bălănescu, Paul-Cristian, Codreanu, Ioana Florentina, Stan, Iustina-Violeta, Comanici, Valentina-Daniela, Robu, Alina Maria, Ciomârtan, Tatiana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.03.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Animals; Biomarkers; Body mass index; cardiometabolic risk indices; Cardiovascular Diseases; Child; childhood obesity; Cholesterol; Chronic illnesses; Cross-Sectional Studies; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Gender; Health care; Heat shock proteins; Hepatitis; High density lipoprotein; Horses; Hsp27; HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; Humans; Insulin resistance; lipid-derived indices; Lipids; Liver diseases; MAFLD; Medical policy; Metabolic syndrome; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease - diagnosis; Obesity; Obesity in children; Osteonectin; Overweight; Patients; Pediatric Obesity - diagnosis; Pediatrics; Physiological aspects; Surveillance; Ultrasound imaging; Romania; United States > US; Czech Republic; osteonectin; MAFLD; TMI; TG/HDL; Hsp27; cardiometabolic risk indices; childhood obesity; AIP; lipid-derived indices; BMI; VAI
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu16060866

Childhood obesity is one of the major challenges of public health policies. The problem of fatty liver in childhood, known as MAFLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease), is of particular interest as the gold standard diagnosis technique is invasive (liver biopsy). Hence, efforts are made to discover more specific biomarkers for the MAFLD signature. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate Osteonectin and Hsp27 as biomarkers for MAFLD diagnosis and to assess their links with auxological and biochemical profiles of overweight and obese pediatric subjects. A cross-sectional study in which we (re)analyzed data from the MR PONy cohort comprising 71 pediatric subjects. Auxological data, liver ultrasonography and biochemical serum profile were recorded. Lipid-derived indices and body composition indices were calculated. Nevertheless, serum Osteonectin and Hsp27 levels were assessed using an ELISA approach. MAFLD prevalence was 40.8%. Higher Osteonectin levels were noted in MAFLD subjects versus non-MAFLD subjects and in dyslipidemic children regardless of their liver function status. Lipid-derived indices had good diagnostic capacity for MAFLD. We confirm Osteonectin as a MAFLD diagnosis biomarker in children. Also, lipid-derived indices are useful as metabolic-associated organ impairment markers in children even before the onset of obesity.