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. 2019 Nov 27;11(12):2890.
doi: 10.3390/nu11122890.

Circulating miRNAs as Biomarkers of Obesity and Obesity-Associated Comorbidities in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Maddi Oses  1 , Javier Margareto Sanchez  2 , Maria P Portillo  3   4   5 , Concepción María Aguilera  4   6   7 , Idoia Labayen  1
Affiliations

Circulating miRNAs as Biomarkers of Obesity and Obesity-Associated Comorbidities in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Maddi Oses et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Early detection of obesity and its associated comorbidities in children needs priority for the development of effective therapeutic intervention. Circulating miRNAs (microRNAs) have been proposed as biomarkers for obesity and its comorbidities; therefore, we conducted a systematic review to summarize results of studies that have quantified the profile of miRNAs in children and adolescents with obesity and/or associated disorders. Nine studies aiming to examine differences in miRNA expression levels between children with normal weight and obesity or between obese children with or without cardiometabolic diseases were included in this review. We identified four miRNAs overexpressed in obesity (miR-222, miR-142-3, miR-140-5p, and miR-143) and two miRNAs (miR-122 and miR-34a) overexpressed in children with obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and/or insulin resistance. In conclusion, circulating miRNAs are promising diagnostic biomarkers of obesity-associated diseases such as NAFLD and type 2 diabetes already in childhood. However, more studies in children, using massive search technology and with larger sample sizes, are required to draw any firm conclusions.

Keywords: biomarkers; childhood obesity; miRNAs.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The PRISMA consort diagram for the search strategy. The initial search retrieved 274 articles, and a total of 9 studies were finally included after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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