A Genetic Score of Predisposition to Low-Grade Inflammation Associated with Obesity May Contribute to Discern Population at Risk for Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Omega-3 rich diets have been shown to improve inflammatory status. However, in an ex vivo system of human blood cells, the efficacy of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) modulating lipid metabolism and cytokine response is attenuated in overweight subjects and shows high inter-individual variability. This suggests that obesity may be exerting a synergistic effect with genetic background disturbing the anti-inflammatory potential of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In the present work, a genetic score aiming to explore the risk associated to low grade inflammation and obesity (LGI-Ob) has been elaborated and assessed as a tool to contribute to discern population at risk for metabolic syndrome. Pro-inflammatory gene expression and cytokine production as a response to omega-3 were associated with LGI-Ob score; and lower anti-inflammatory effect of PUFA was observed in subjects with a high genetic score. Furthermore, overweight/obese individuals showed positive correlation of both plasma C-Reactive Protein and triglyceride/HDLc-index with LGI-Ob; and high LGI-Ob score was associated with greater hypertension (p = 0.047), Type 2 diabetes (p = 0.026), and metabolic risk (p = 0.021). The study shows that genetic variation can influence inflammation and omega-3 response, and that the LGI-Ob score could be a useful tool to classify subjects at inflammatory risk and more prone to suffer metabolic syndrome and associated metabolic disturbances.

Current State of Evidence: Influence of Nutritional and Nutrigenetic Factors on Immunity in the COVID-19 Pandemic Framework

“…In this regard, Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) are a bio-active group of compounds present in fish oils, algae, and other food sources [ 153 ]. Despite the fact that genetic and anthropometric factors should be taken into account to consider their benefits, omega-3 PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) show anti-inflammatory proprieties [ 154 , 155 ] and a combined adequate intake of 250 mg/day is considered necessary for the maintenance of general cardiovascular health [ 156 ]. In this context, the potential benefits (and risks) of omega-3 PUFA supplementation to COVID-19 patients were recently reviewed [ 157 ].…”

Increased Risk of High Body Fat and Altered Lipid Metabolism Associated to Suboptimal Consumption of Vitamin A Is Modulated by Genetic Variants rs5888 (SCARB1), rs1800629 (UCP1) and rs659366 (UCP2)

“…Isolation of genomic DNA was carried out using the commercial kit High Pure PCR template Preparation Kit (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). Genotyping was performed by qPCR (LightCycler ® 480 FastStart DNA, Roche, Basel, Switzerland), FastStart master mix (Roche, Basel, Switzerland), and specific-SNP (Tib Molbiol, Berlin, Germany) following the conditions described elsewhere [ 42 ].…”

Obesity and STING1 genotype associate with 23-valent pneumococcal vaccination efficacy

“…Obesity constitutes one of the largest public health issues in the world and is associated with widespread comorbidities, including insulin resistance, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, sleep apnea, cancer, chronic inflammation, and mortality (6)(7)(8)(9). Though inflammation in obesity is multifaceted, recent attention has turned to genetic contributions of underlying inflammatory mechanisms (10,11). In particular, studies have shown that obesity induces cytosolic mitochondrial DNA release, which triggers activation of STING (stimulator of interferon genes; refs.…”