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Circulating microRNAs are deregulated in overweight/obese children: preliminary results of the I.Family study

Overview of attention for article published in Genes & Nutrition, March 2016
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Title
Circulating microRNAs are deregulated in overweight/obese children: preliminary results of the I.Family study
Published in
Genes & Nutrition, March 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12263-016-0525-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Giuseppe Iacomino, Paola Russo, Ilaria Stillitano, Fabio Lauria, Pasquale Marena, Wolfgang Ahrens, Pasquale De Luca, Alfonso Siani

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs involved in the modulation of gene expression and in the control of numerous cell functions. Alterations of miRNA patterns frequently occur in cancer and metabolic disorders, including obesity. Recent studies showed remarkable stability of miRNAs in both plasma and serum making them suitable as potential circulating biomarkers for a variety of diseases and conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the profile of circulating miRNAs expressed in plasma samples of overweight or obese (OW/Ob) and normal weight (NW) prepubertal children from a European cohort (www.ifamilystudy.eu). The project, aimed to assess the determinants of eating behavior in children and adolescents of eight European countries, is built on the IDEFICS cohort (www.ideficsstudy.eu), established in 2006. Among the participants of the I.Family Italian Cohort, ten OW/Ob (age 10.7 ± 1.5 years, BMI 31.6 ± 4.3 kg/m(2)) and ten NW (age 10.5 ± 2.7 years, BMI 16.4 ± 1.7 kg/m(2)) children were selected for the study. Gene arrays were employed to differentially screen the expression of 372 miRNAs in pooled plasma samples. Deregulated miRNAs (p < 0.05) were further validated in the individual samples using a real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) approach. Using a significance threshold of p < 0.05 and a fold-change threshold of ± 4.0, we preliminarily identified in the pooled samples eight miRNAs that differed between the OW/Ob and NW groups. The validation by RT-qPCR in the individual plasma samples showed a twofold upregulation of miR-31-5p, a threefold upregulation of miR-2355-5p, and a 0.5-fold downregulation of miR-206 in OW/Ob as compared with NW. The molecular functions of these differentially expressed plasma miRNAs as well as their expected mRNA targets were predicted by bioinformatics tools. This pilot study shows that three circulating miRNAs are differentially regulated in OW/Ob as compared with NW children. Although causal pathways cannot be firmly inferred by these results, that deserve confirmation in larger samples, it is conceivable that circulating miRNAs may be novel biomarkers of obesity and related metabolic disturbances.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 81 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 1%
Unknown 80 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 18 22%
Student > Bachelor 15 19%
Student > Master 12 15%
Researcher 7 9%
Student > Postgraduate 4 5%
Other 9 11%
Unknown 16 20%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 21 26%
Medicine and Dentistry 13 16%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 7 9%
Nursing and Health Professions 6 7%
Immunology and Microbiology 3 4%
Other 11 14%
Unknown 20 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 September 2016.
All research outputs
#14,716,845
of 22,860,626 outputs
Outputs from Genes & Nutrition
#214
of 388 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#167,595
of 299,507 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Genes & Nutrition
#2
of 9 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,860,626 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 388 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.2. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 299,507 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 9 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 7 of them.