Insights into the pathophysiology of catch-up compared with non-catch-up growth in children born small for gestational age: an integrated analysis of metabolic and transcriptomic data.
Stevens A., Bonshek C., Whatmore A., Butcher I., Hanson D., De Leonibus C., Shaikh G., Brown M., O'Shea E., Victor S., Powell P., Settle P., Padmakumar B., Tan A., Odeka E., Cooper C., Birch J., Shenoy A., Westwood M., Patel L., Dunn BW., Clayton P.
Small for gestational age (SGA) children exhibiting catch-up (CU) growth have a greater risk of cardiometabolic diseases in later life compared with non-catch-up (NCU) SGA children. The aim of this study was to establish differences in metabolism and gene expression profiles between CU and NCU at age 4-9 years. CU children (n=22) had greater height, weight and body mass index standard deviation scores along with insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and fasting glucose levels but lower adiponectin values than NCU children (n=11; all P<0.05). Metabolic profiling demonstrated a fourfold decrease of urine myo-inositol in CU compared with NCU (P<0.05). There were 1558 genes differentially expressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells between the groups (P<0.05). Integrated analysis of data identified myo-inositol related to gene clusters associated with an increase in insulin, growth factor and IGF-I signalling in CU children (P<0.05). Metabolic and transcriptomic profiles in CU SGA children showed changes that may relate to cardiometabolic risk.