| Abstract |
The present master thesis aims to the study of inflammatory factors and genetic markers in obesity and aging. Obesity is a health problem that affects millions of people annualy and it is associated with inflammation and many comorbidities. Aging is a process of progressive reduction in cells’ function leading to a variety of diseases. Blood samples were collected from 39 obese volunteers and 27 lean volunteers. PBMCs were isolated by density gradient centrifugation and leukocyte subpopulations were assessed by flow cytometry. Serum was isolated by centrifugation, while cells were cultured for 48h either with B or BL (with LPS) medium. From 66 particpants, 60 samples serums and 30 samples of cells that were cultured in B or BL (LPS induction) medium (from 15 individuals) were used for IL-6 ELISA. Genotyping for different SNPs was held in order to measure genetic risk scores for obesity and telomere length. Statistical analysis was performed using the unpaired Mann-Whitney t-test (two- tailed), multiple t-test, correlation co-efficience, one-way ANOVA test and Sperman’s correlation. Data demonstrate that obesity is associated with a significant increase in the majority of white blood cells, meaning circulating PBMCs, neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes. As far as lymphocytes are concerned, CD3+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, T regulatory cells and CD4+ T cells, where naïve, TEMRA, effector and central memory T cells belong, as well as B and NK cells are elevated in obese participants confirming the proinflammatory status of obese individuals. Conversely, reduction in basophils, eosinophils and non-classical monocytes is reported in the obese group. Furthermore, it was found that IL-6 is strong correlated with BMI, physical activity and alcohol consumption can slightly increase IL-6 levels, while smoking and coffee consumption are linked to small reduction of IL-6 concentrations. IL-6 levels are notably elevated in samples that were induced by LPS. Genetic risk score for obesity is positively correlated with BMI as it is a marker of predisposition to obesity, whereas genetic risk score for telomere length that reveals cardiological age is associated with increased levels of IL-6. So, inflammation plays important role in obesity and aging, while BMI is a significant factor for a person’s health.
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Immunological and genetic markers in obesity and aging
