navigation

C5 - Predictors of childhood obesity with progressive cardiometabolic dysfunction

This project aims to test the hypothesis that subphenotypes of childhood obesity with early progressive cardiometabolic deterioration are linked to adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction. We will identify children with risk and resilience factors for early cardiometabolic decompensation from our longitudinal childhood cohorts comprising clinical, environmental and genetic data. We will link those risk factors and subphenotypes with genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic traits from AT and finally assess the functional relevance of the hereby identified molecular candidates in vitro and in vivo.

Figure 1. Adipose tissue biopsies obtained from lean and obese children are characterized for alterations in adipose tissue biology and function and their relation to the development of obesity and first clinical sequelae in children. (upper panel). To identify adipose tissue-specific regulators involved in excess fat accumulation in obesity and adipocyte hypertrophy (right panel), we will interrogate data sets for adipose tissue dysfunction/hypertrophy (a), white adipogenesis (b) and genetic risk profiles for obesity and metabolic dysfunction (c). Finally, candidate genes and respective mechanisms will be characterized for their relevance for adipose tissue biology and function in vitro an in vivo.

PROJECT TEAM

Dr. Kathrin Landgraf, Postdoc

Elena Kempf, PhD student

Martha Hanschkow, PhD student