Visfatin: The Link Between Inflammation and Childhood Obesity
- George V.Z. Dedoussis, PHD1,
- Alexandra Kapiri1,
- Anastasia Samara, PHD2,
- Dimitris Dimitriadis, MD3,
- Daniel Lambert, PHD2,
- Michele Pfister, MSC2,
- Gerard Siest, PHD2,4 and
- Sophie Visvikis-Siest, PHD2
- 1Department of Dietetics-Nutrition, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece;
- 2INSERM, CIC 9501 Cardiovascular Genetics Team, Nancy, France;
- 3Agia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece;
- 4Faculty of Pharmacy, Henri Poincaré, Nancy University, Nancy, France.
- Corresponding author: George Dedoussis, dedousi{at}hua.gr.
Low-grade inflammation that coexists with obesity has mainly been studied in adults, whereas data in children are limited. Visfatin is a newly discovered adipokine. It is expressed in visceral adipose tissue and has been shown to exert insulin-mimetic effects (1). Although some studies have addressed its relation to obesity, visfatin's biological roles are largely unknown. Besides expression in adipose tissue, visfatin is also expressed in peripheral blood neutrophils upon stimulation by inflammatory factors, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (2).
In light of the rising prevalence of pediatric obesity, it is important to assess the role of visfatin as a predictor of BMI and to unravel its association with inflammation markers. To address this, we measured its …
