Are Human Adenovirus-5 and 36 Associated with Obesity in Children?

Abstract

Objectives

The aims of this study were to determine the association between adenovirus-5– and adenovirus-36–specific antibodies and obesity in children and to investigate their relationship with serum lipid and leptin levels.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was performed on a total of 120 children who were divided into subgroups according to body mass index percentile as obese (≥95th percentile) or nonobese (<95th percentile). The presence of adenovirus-36 and adenovirus-5–neutralizing antibodies was investigated by using the serum neutralization assay. Serum leptin levels were determined by microenzyme immonoassay; high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels were measured by chemiluminescence method.

Results

The presence of adenovirus-5–specific antibodies was 28.3% and 6.6% in the obese children and in non–obese children, respectively (P = 0.02). The frequency of adenovirus-36–specific antibodies was significantly greater (P = 0.018) in the obese children (26.6%) than in the non–obese children (10.0%). Serum leptin level of the obese group were significantly higher than that of the non–obese group (P = 0.000).

Conclusions

Our data support the association between obesity and the presence of specific antibodies to adenovirus-36 and adenovirus-5 in children. Our research has the feature of being the first national study to indicate the relationship between adenovirus-36 and human obesity as well as the first international study to indicate the relationship between adenovirus-5 and human obesity.