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Increased asprosin is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children with obesity

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Abstract

Background

Obesity is a common disease among children, often accompanied by a lot of metabolic disease. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common complications of obesity among children and adolescents. Asprosin has been identified as a new adipokine that is closely associated with hepatic glucose metabolism. However, few data on asprosin in obese children with NAFLD are available. The present study focuses on the relationship between serum asprosin level and NAFLD in children with obesity.

Methods

A total of 110 subjects (71 boys and 39 girls aged 6–18 years) were recruited from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University: 36 obese children with NAFLD, 39 obese children without NAFLD and 35 lean controls. Anthropometric parameters and biochemical data were measured, and the concentrations of asprosin were detected by ELISA.

Results

The levels of serum asprosin were significantly higher in obese children, particularly those with NAFLD and were positively correlated with body mass index, waist to height ratio, fasting blood glucose, alanine aminotransferase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Furthermore, asprosin was independently associated with NAFLD in binary logistic regression analysis.

Conclusion

Serum asprosin levels were elevated in obese children, especially in those with NAFLD, and were involved in the pathogenesis of NAFLD in children with obesity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the staff at the Department of Pediatrics in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University for their logistic support, and the cooperation and participation of all children, and their parents.

Funding

This study was supported by funding from the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (81673187).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 157 Xiwu Road, Xi’an 710061, China

    Lu-Jie Liu, Yu-Rong Kang & Yan-Feng Xiao

Authors
  1. Lu-Jie Liu
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  2. Yu-Rong Kang
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  3. Yan-Feng Xiao
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Contributions

XYF conceived the study; designed and supervised experiments; performed the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data; and drafted and revised the article. LLJ and KYR performed the recruitment of blood and analyzed the data. LLJ analyzed the data and contributed to discussion. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yan-Feng Xiao.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

This was a spontaneous study conducted in conformity with World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki for medical research involving human subjects. The study protocol is currently being evaluated by the Ethical Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Liu, LJ., Kang, YR. & Xiao, YF. Increased asprosin is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children with obesity. World J Pediatr 17, 394–399 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-021-00444-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-021-00444-x

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