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P5. NEW STRATEGIES AND BIOMARKERS IN THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OBESITY AND EATING DISORDERS
The programme “New Strategies and Biomarkers in the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity and Eating Disorders” is formed by two subprogrammes, one focused on the identification of new biomarkers and technologies for the prediction and prevention of obesity and its complications, and another one more focused on the effects and importance of physical activity, which overlap one another .
subprogramme 1 “IDENTIFICATION AND USE OF NEW BIOMARKERS AND OTHER FACTORS SPECIFIC FOR THE CONTROL OF HEALTHY FUNCTIONS AND IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY”
The fundamental objective is the identification of biomarkers, nutrients and other factors that are useful in the prevention of obesity . The search for biomarkers is being carried out to a large extent, but not
exclusively, in blood cells . Huge advances were made in 2014 in this objective, having characterised the usefulness of blood cells in the search for biomarkers in nutrition and obesity studies . So as part of the European project I .FAMILY, markers having a preference for fats and sugars which can be predictive of the development of obesity in children have been identified in blood cells . In studies with animal models, early markers of obesity and impairments of energy homeostasis have been identified using the PBMC blood cell fraction . The description of a methodology for predicting the predisposition to overweight, obesity and their complications that has been developed within the framework of the European project BIOCLAIMS (led by the coordinator of the Programme), based on the combined analysis of a large number of mRNAs in PBMC, and which has been patented by the Universidad de las Islas Baleares and CIBER stands out . It is the first ‘nutrigenomic biomarker’ described for predicting the predisposition to obesity in early stages of life . It is also useful for identifying those infants that may benefit the most from breastfeeding . In addition, a cohort of children followed from birth has been established for validation in blood samples of the biomarkers of interest identified in humans . At the same time, another work, also in children, is underway which assesses the impact of intrauterine life and postnatal growth on cardiometabolic risk . In adults, collaborations have been instituted to reflect biomarker studies in situations associated with extreme body weight . Furthermore, genetic markers (generally SNPs) and epigenetic marks have been studied as part of this subprogramme, and various markers that can help to determine the most suitable treatment for overweight/obesity and to predict the response to the intervention have been identified . Furthermore, advancements have been made in the identification of nutritional biomarkers, which will be useful for evaluating the functional effects of foods in intervention studies . Specifically, a marker of the consumption of beer and another marker of the consumption of wine have been identified in urine . The start up of a human PBMC culturing system for testing the functional effects of bioactive compounds also stands out . In addition, new strategies and new bioactive compounds for the prevention and treatment of obesity are being analysed in this subprogramme . One of the strategies consists of increasing the energy dissipating capability, fomenting the conversion of white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue (browning process), carried out as part of the European project DIABAT . Studies to see how different nutritional treatments, such as for example a combination of polyphenols, are capable of affecting the browning capability and thus contributing to the control of body weight in rodents have been conducted in this period . Another strategy has consisted of identifying compounds with the capability to modulate the activity of AMPk, and it was described that pterostilbene, a resveratrol derivative, reduces lipogenesis in an effect mediated by activation of this protein . It has also been described that the lipogenesis inhibitory effect of resveratrol would be mediated by modulation of miRNAs . Scientists in this programme are actively involved in food reformulation processes in relation to health claims in foods, having a huge and undeniable economic impact and associated with a foreseeable impact on health (particularly for controlling obesity and the most important food-related chronic diseases) . The objective of the BIOCLAIMS project, which ends in 2015, is to provide scientific information in order to allow supporting health claims . This has been associated with participation in other European projects, and in 2014, a budding collaboration in an industrial research business consortium CIEN (SMARTFOODS) (selected for funding by the CDTI) .
24 CIBEROBN » Annual report 2014