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Association of telomere length with IL‐6 levels during an obesity treatment in adolescents: interaction with the‐174G/C polymorphism in the IL‐6 gene
Author(s) -
GarcíaCalzón S.,
Moleres A.,
GómezMartinez S.,
Diaz L. E.,
Bueno G.,
Campoy C.,
Martinez J. A.,
Marcos A.,
AzconaSanjulián M. C.,
Zalba G.,
Marti A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
pediatric obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.226
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 2047-6310
pISSN - 2047-6302
DOI - 10.1111/ijpo.12136
Subject(s) - telomere , medicine , confidence interval , obesity , anthropometry , genotype , endocrinology , inflammation , weight loss , interleukin 6 , gastroenterology , genetics , gene , biology
Summary Background Shorter telomeres have been associated with elevated risk for age‐related diseases. However, little is known about the biomarker role of telomere length (TL) for predicting inflammation and glucose alterations. Objective The objective of this research is to evaluate the association between TL, inflammatory markers and glucose levels after a 2‐month weight‐loss programme in obese adolescents. Methods Telomere length was measured using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 66 obese adolescents aged 12–17 years (51% men) from the EVASYON programme. The adolescents were genotyped for the polymorphism ‐174G/C (rs1800795) in the IL‐6 gene, and anthropometric and biochemical markers as well as inflammatory cytokines were analysed. Results Multiple‐adjusted models showed that longer telomeres at baseline were associated with a higher reduction in glucose (B = −4.08, 95% confidence interval: −6.66 to −1.50) and IL‐6 (B = −1.03, 95% confidence interval: −2.01 to −0.05) serum levels after 2 months of the weight‐loss treatment. The ‐174G/C polymorphism modulated the association between basal TL and changes in IL‐6 ( P interaction = 0.029). Thus, subjects with the GG + GC genotype and with longer telomeres showed a higher decrease in IL‐6 levels than CC homozygotes. Conclusion Longer telomeres are associated with an improvement in glucose tolerance and inflammation after a weight‐loss programme in obese adolescents. Moreover, the ‐174G/C polymorphism may influence the relationship between TL and IL‐6 changes.