Dr. Peterson Publishes on Obesity in Children

Jonathan Peterson, Associate Professor in East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Department of Health Sciences, is corresponding author of an article in PLOS ONE.  The article, “CTRP3 and serum triglycerides in children aged 7-10 years,” compares the levels of different oligomeric complexes of CTRP3 and circulating lipid levels among young children.

Arsham Alamian, former faculty member in the college, now at the University of Miami, is lead author of the article.  Additional co-authors include JoAnn Marrs and W. Andrew Clark, faculty of the ETSU College of Nursing and College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences, respectively as well as Kristy Thomas, graduate assistant in Dr. Peterson’s lab. The study was conducted by the APPalachian Obesity and METabolic diseases (APPOMET) Working Group, an interdisciplinary group of researchers including epidemiologists, nutritionists, nurses and basic science researchers.

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the Unites States; its prevalence more than doubled in the past 30 years from about 7% in 1980 to 17.7% in 2012 among  6- to 11-year-olds.  Childhood obesity is influenced by a variety of environmental, social, dietary, and genetic factors. Dr. Peterson’s lab focuses on understanding the influence of adipose tissue health and specifically adipose tissue-derived secreted hormonal factors (hereafter referred to as adipokines) on the development of obesity and metabolic disorders. The article focuses specifically on associations of C1q TNF Related Protein 3 (CTRP3) on obesity-related metabolic parameters.

A novel family of secreted humoral factors, C1q TNF Related Proteins have wide-ranging effects upon metabolism, inflammation, and cell-growth in multiple tissue types. The associations between these factors and human health has only begun to be explored in adult populations and this manuscript is the first to explore these factors in children. Dyslipidemia, the abnormal amount of lipids such as triglyceride and cholesterol, is commonly induced by obesity and is a leading contributor to the development of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a significant public health concern and the most prevalent cause of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Data for this study came from a previously performed cross-sectional study of metabolic syndrome in pre-adolescent Hispanic children, receiving well-child care at a community health center, from June 2015 to September 2016. Data and serum samples were collected and analyzed.  Analysis included adiponectin, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, glucagon, C-reactive peptide, triglyceride, cholesterol, IL-6, TNF, and CTRP3.

Understanding how circulating novel hormonal factors contribute to the development of disease is an essential step towards developing intervention strategies to treat/prevent childhood obesity and metabolic syndrome.  The researchers found that the specific oligomeric conformation of CTRP3 was strongly and negatively correlated with dyslipidemia indicates that CTRP3 plays a key role in metabolic health and its dysregulation can be an early sign of the development of metabolic disease.