Serum miR-503 is a Candidate Biomarker for Differentiating Metabolic Healthy Obesity from Metabolic Unhealthy Obesity

Hai-Qing Yue; Ying-Hui Zhou; Yue Guo; Chen-Yi Tang; Fang Wang; Hou-De Zhou

doi:10.2147/DMSO.S262888

Serum miR-503 is a Candidate Biomarker for Differentiating Metabolic Healthy Obesity from Metabolic Unhealthy Obesity

Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2020 Jul 27:13:2667-2676. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S262888. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Hai-Qing Yue¹, Ying-Hui Zhou¹, Yue Guo^{1

2}, Chen-Yi Tang¹, Fang Wang¹, Hou-De Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Metabolic Bone Diseases, Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Stomatology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: Overweight and obesity are associated with metabolic diseases. However, a subgroup of the overweight/obese population does not present metabolic abnormalities. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that can distinguish different obesity phenotypes and metabolic status.

Patients and methods: A total of 98 individuals were divided into three groups: metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW), metabolically healthy obese (MHO), and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO). Participants were evaluated for anthropometric and biochemical parameters and serum BMPR1A concentration and miR-503 level. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and logistic regression analysis were performed.

Results: The level of miR-503 was significantly higher in the MHO group compared with that in the MUO group, but no difference was observed between the MHNW and MHO groups. Meanwhile, no significant differences in serum BMPR1A concentration were observed between the three groups. ROC curve analysis showed that miR-503 could be used as a marker to distinguish the MUO from the MHO. Logistic regression analysis suggested that miR-503 was an important related factor associated with an unhealthy metabolic state in overweight/obese subjects.

Conclusion: miR-503 can be considered as a suitable biomarker to distinguish between the MUO and MHO, which may be a related factor for the incidence of metabolic disorders in overweight/obese subjects.

Keywords: diagnosis; metabolic syndrome; micro RNA.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China [grant numbers: 81770880, 81800788, 81970762], the Science & Technology Department of Hunan Province [grant numbers: 2015JC3012, 2018SK52511] and Hunan Research Innovation Project for Postgraduate Students [grant number: CX2018B069].