Inflammation biomarkers and inflammatory genes expression in metabolically healthy obese patients

Obesity without metabolic alterations (Metabolically Healthy Obesity, MHO) is a condition with a risk of death and cardiovascular disease lower than that of obesity associated with metabolic alterations (Metabolically Unhealthy Obesity, MUO) and similar to that of healthy non obese individuals. Inflammation is considered as a key risk factor mediating the adverse health outcomes in obesity. We compared circulating levels of thirteen major cytokines and adipokines and the expression profiles of fifteen pro-inflammatory and two anti-inflammatory genes in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue in a series of 16 MHO patients and in 32 MUO patients that underwent bariatric surgery. MHO was defined according to the most applied definition in current literature. Serum levels of a large set of major cytokines and adipokines did not differ between MHO and MUO patients (p ≥ 0.15). Analyses of the expression profile of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue failed to show differences between MHO and MUO patients (p ≥ 0.07). Sensitivity analyses applying two additional definitions of MHO confirmed the results of the primary analysis. In a series of metabolically healthy obese patients neither circulating levels of major cytokines and adipokines nor the gene expression profile of a large set of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes in subcutaneous and visceral fat differed from those in metabolically unhealthy obese patients. •Metabolically Healthy Obesity (MHO) is a condition with a risk of death and cardiovascular disease lower than that of obesity associated with metabolic alterations (Metabolically Unhealthy Obesity, MUO).•Inflammation is considered as a key risk factor mediating the adverse health outcomes in obesity.•In a series of MHO patients neither circulating levels of major cytokines and adipokines nor the gene expression profile of a large set of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes in subcutaneous and visceral fat differed from those MUO patients.•The low risk of death and cardiovascular disease in metabolically healthy obese subjects reported in large epidemiological studies is unlikely to be explained by lower levels of inflammation.