[Soluble thrombomodulin--a molecular marker of endothelial cell injury in children and adolescents with obesity].

Abstract

Background: Endothelial damage is an early step in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis which begins in early childhood after exposure to atherogenic risk factors such as obesity. Its progression may lead to very severe cardiovascular complications. TM -- a specific marker of endothelial cell damage, is a transmembranous glycoprotein with anti-coagulant properties. It has a large, extracellular region comprising a thrombin binding site. TM-thrombin complex becomes an activator of protein C which inactivates factor Va and VIIIa and thereby inhibits the blood coagulation cascade.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate if plasma concentration of sTM (one of markers of endothelial cells injury) is higher in children and adolescents with obesity.

Materials and methods: We studied 22 obese children, 11 girls and 11 boys, (age range 8.5-17.8 years), and 17 normal weight healthy controls, (age range 12-17.9 years) without family history of cardiovascular diseases. We measured plasma concentration of sTM, blood lipids profile, body weight and BMI. As sTM is excreted by the kidney we also measured plasma level of creatinine and its clearance.

Results: Plasma concentration of sTM in the group with obesity was significantly higher than that in the control group. There were no significant association between sTM and age or sex. Compared with non-obese patients, obese children had higher plasma concentration of total cholesterol, LDL-c, triglycerides, but these were not significant differences. However there was a significantly lower level of HDL-c in children with obesity. In addition statistically significant correlation between sTM and BMI was observed in the obese group.

Conclusions: Statistically higher level of sTM in children with obesity compared with healthy individuals makes us sure that endothelium cells, even in children who were shortly exposed to atherogenic risk factors such as obesity, are noticeably damaged. These results constitute an additional signal that a lot of effort should be put into the endeavors to eliminate atherogenes risk factors in children population in order to prevent cardiovascular events.