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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2015; 21(15): 4688-4695
Published online Apr 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i15.4688
Published online Apr 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i15.4688
Pancreatic fat and β-cell function in overweight/obese children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Lucia Pacifico, Caterina Anania, Gian Marco Andreoli, Department of Pediatrics and Child Neuropsychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
Michele Di Martino, Mario Bezzi, Carlo Catalano, Department of Radiological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
Claudio Chiesa, Institute of Translational Pharmacology, National Research Council, 00133 Rome, Italy
Author contributions: Pacifico L, Anania C and Chiesa C designed the study, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Di Martino M and Andreoli GM collected the data; Di Martino M, Andreoli GM, Bezzi M and Catalano C performed the measurements and analyses; all the authors participated in the critical review and in the final approval of the manuscript.
Supported by Sapienza University of Rome (Progetti di Ricerca Universitaria 2011-2012).
Ethics approval: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Policlinico Umberto I Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Clinical trial registration: Prot. 432/12; Rif. 2464/24.05.2012.
Informed consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the next of kin, caretakers, or guardians on behalf of the children enrolled in this study, in accordance with principles of the Helsinki Declaration.
Conflict-of-interest: There are no potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
Data sharing: Data are available from the corresponding author at the provided e-mail address.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Claudio Chiesa, MD, Institute of Translational Pharmacology, National Research Council, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy. claudio.chiesa@ift.cnr.it
Telephone: +39-6-49979215 Fax: +39-6-49979216
Received: November 26, 2014
Peer-review started: November 27, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: December 19, 2014
Accepted: January 16, 2015
Article in press: January 16, 2015
Published online: April 21, 2015
Peer-review started: November 27, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: December 19, 2014
Accepted: January 16, 2015
Article in press: January 16, 2015
Published online: April 21, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Recent studies in children demonstrated that the prevalence of prediabetes increases with increasing hepatic fat content, and that fatty liver plays a central role in the impairment of liver, muscle and adipose insulin sensitivity. Pancreatic fat was identified as a novel obesity-related fat depot, which might contribute to the development of β-cell dysfunction. This study demonstrated that in overweight/obese children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), pancreatic fat is increased compared with those without NAFLD. However, only liver fat is independently related to prediabetes. Early intervention during childhood to recognize NAFLD might be critical in averting an unfavorable metabolic phenotype.