Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Childhood obesity now represents a major public health concern. Being obese in childhood appears to increase the risk of severe obesity in adulthood. Obesity is associated with co-morbid conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Underpinning obesity is a state of chronic sterile inflammation. Recently the invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell, an innate T cell was shown to act as a metabolic regulator and altered by obesity both in adults and ...

There is strong epidemiological data linking obesity to an increased risk of various cancers. It is associated with immune dysregulation and chronic low grade inflammation, however little is known about its impact on anti-tumour immunity. Whether childhood obesity is an independent risk factor for future malignancy is not fully established. We hypothesized that alterations in key immune anti-tumour mechanisms begin prior to adulthood in paediatric obesity.<p class="abstext...

Background: Although the association between obesity, chronic low-grade inflammation and immune dysregulation is well described in adults, there is a paucity of literature regarding this in children. We hypothesized that childhood obesity is associated with significant immune dysregulation.Methods: Expression of cytokines and microRNAs (miR) involved in the pathogenesis of metabolic disease were assessed in 49 participants aged 6–18 years. Invariant...