title: Metabolic disease risk in children by salivary biomarker analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study of obesity-related metabolic syndrome or Type 2 diabetes (T2D) in children is particularly difficult because of fear of needles. We tested a non-invasive approach to study inflammatory parameters in an at-risk population of children to provide proof-of-principle for future investigations of vulnerable subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated metabolic differences in 744, 11-year old children selected from underweight, normal healthy weight, overweight and obese categories by analyzing fasting saliva samples for 20 biomarkers. Saliva supernatants were obtained following centrifugation and used for analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Salivary C-reactive protein (CRP) was 6 times higher, salivary insulin and leptin were 3 times higher, and adiponectin was 30% lower in obese children compared to healthy normal weight children (all P<0.0001). Categorical analysis suggested that there might be three types of obesity in children. Distinctly inflammatory characteristics appeared in 76% of obese children while in 13%, salivary insulin was high but not associated with inflammatory mediators. The remaining 11% of obese children had high insulin and reduced adiponectin. Forty percent of the non-obese children were found in groups which, based on biomarker characteristics, may be at risk for becoming obese.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significantly altered levels of salivary biomarkers in obese children from a high-risk population, suggest the potential for developing non-invasive screening procedures to identify T2D-vulnerable individuals and a means to test preventative strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Max
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Goodson
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alpdogan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kantarci
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mor-Li
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hartman
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gerald V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Denis
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasturk
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yaskell
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jorel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiaoshan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maryann
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cugini
authors.affiliation: The Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Roula
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barake
authors.affiliation: The Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alsmadi
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Sabiha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Mutawa
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Jitendra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ariga
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Oral Sciences, the Forsyth Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Pramod
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soparkar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Jawad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Behbehani
authors.affiliation: The Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Behbehani
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Welty
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000378:metabolism; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012306:Risk; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D015415:Biomarkers; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein