Inflammatory biomarkers:: The link between obesity and associated pathologies

The objetive of this article is to review biomarkers that have been suggested in recent years as the link between inflammation, obesity and associated co-morbidities, as well as some questions that yet remain unclear. Increasing evidence indicates the important role of inflammation in the, etiology of major public health problems. In the last years, several studies have proposed that obesity might be a inflammatory disorder. In addition, oxidative stress has been suggested as a potential inductor of inflammatory status and susceptibility to obesity and related disorders. Several biomarkers are being suggested as the link between obesity, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome, such as tumor necrosis factor alfa, interleukin-6 and -18, angiotensinogen, transforming grow factor beta, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, leptin, resistin, C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, sialic acid, fibrinogen, markers of endothelial dysfunction (von Willebrand factor, ICAMs, VCAMs), complement factor 3, haptoglobin, Zinc-alpha2-glycoprotein, eotaxin, visfatin, apelin, alphal-antitrypsin, vaspin, omentin, retinol binding protein 4, ceruloplasmin, adiponectin and desnutrin. Some of this biomarkers are good predictors of cardiovascular risk (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, sialic acid, fribrinogen, complement factor 3, C-reactive protein), adiposity (leptin, visfatin, resistin, haptoglobin) and/or insulin resistance (sialic acid, C-reactive protein, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, von Willebrand factor). However, it is currently unclear the role of many of them concerning inflammatory processes in humans, as well as the factors involved in their regulation.