Abstract
The aim of the study was to evaluate serum Endocan and Lumican levels as biomarkers for pediatric Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and to explore their associations with pediatric cardiometabolic risk factors. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 68 pediatric obese and overweight (O&O) patients. Ten healthy controls were recruited. Serum Lumican and Endocan levels were analyzed using ELISA kits. O&O patients had lower levels of Endocan compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001). There were no differences between serum Endocan levels in O&O patients with NAFLD and those without (p = 0.53). Patients considered having Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) had lower Endocan levels compared to O&O patients without NASH (p = 0.026). Patients with metabolic syndrome had lower levels of Endocan (p = 0.003). There were no significant differences between serum Lumican levels in O&O children compared to healthy controls. Lumican levels were higher in patients with hypertension (p = 0.04). In O&O patients, Lumican levels were negatively correlated with Endocan levels (r = −0.37, p = 0.002). Endocan seems a promising biomarker for the evaluation of pediatric NASH. Lumican was not confirmed as a biomarker for NAFLD in our cohort but was associated with higher arterial pressure. Low Endocan levels are accompanied by high serum Lumican levels, and this could be an early signature of cardiometabolic risk.
Highlights
Obesity and its alarming chronic complications are some of the major issues of nowadays health systems
The hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome is known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
NAFLD itself is related to cardiovascular risk, irrespective of the classical cardiometabolic risk factors [4]
Summary
Obesity and its alarming chronic complications are some of the major issues of nowadays health systems. High BMI as an obesity marker is long known to be strongly associated with atherosclerotic lesions even in the young [2]. As the cornerstone of obesity-related comorbidities is insulin resistance, those patients associate metabolic syndrome even from early ages. The hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome is known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). This spectrum of liver disease troubles pediatricians worldwide as its rising prevalence surpasses even obesity’s prevalence uprise in the last decade [3]. There is the problem of the invasive gold standard diagnosis method (liver biopsy) and secondly, lack of treatment. NAFLD itself is related to cardiovascular risk, irrespective of the classical cardiometabolic risk factors [4]
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