Influence of breastfeeding on blood-cell transcript-based biomarkers of health in children

Background: Blood-cell transcripts have showed to be good biomarkers of metabolic alterations and their use in early detection and prevention of future disorders is promising. Objective: This study aimed to examine the relation between previously proposed transcriptional biomarkers of metabolic health (SLC27A2, CPT1A, FASN, PPAR?, INSR, LEPR) in peripheral blood cells and the type of infant feeding in a subset of children from the IDEFICS (Identification and Prevention of Dietaryand Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants) cohort. Subjects: A total of 237 children aged 2-9 years from eight European countries were studied. Results: Breastfed children showed higher expression levels of SLC27A2, FASN, PPAR? and INSR, and lower risk of being overweight and of having high plasma triglyceride levels vs. formula-fed children. Besides, overweight formula-fed children presented higher HOMA-index than overweight breastfed children (1.90 vs. 1.62); however, this negative effect was absent in formula-fed children with high expression of SLC27A2. Moreover, formula-fed children with low expression of SLC27A2, FASN, PPAR? and INSR presented higher triglyceride levels than subjects with high expression of these genes (77.7 mg dL-1 vs. 44.8 mg dL-1). This difference was absent in breastfed children. Conclusions: Protective effects of breastfeeding are reflected in higher expression levels of SLC27A2, FASN, PPAR? and INSR in blood cells. These biomarkers may also serve to discriminate the formula-fed children that are at higher risk of metabolic alterations.