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All fat is not created equal.

As obesity levels rise worldwide, scientists believe that a specific type of body fat from visceral adipose tissue (VAT) inflammation poses a greater cardiometabolic risk.

But measuring VAT fat to assess risk requires invasive surgery.

Now, scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel have proposed a “liquid-biopsy-like” alternative to surgery.

They say VAT inflammation levels can be determined by measuring three kinds of circulating miRNAs — short, noncoding RNA molecules that inhibit gene expression.

Adipose tissue, particularly in people who are obese, is thought to produce up to 50 percent of circulating miRNA.

Their findings were published in the March issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and presented in April at the annual conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Obesity.

Dr. Isana Veksler-Lubinsky from BGU’s department of software and information systems engineering. Photo by Dani Machlis/BGU

The scientists, led by Isana Veksler-Lublinsky and Prof. Assaf Rudich, used samples donated to an adipose tissue biobank from 35 people who underwent bariatric surgery at Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheva, near the university.

An additional 51 people were used as a validation cohort. Participants were aged 18 to 70 with a BMI of 30 or greater and no known malignancies.

The researchers hypothesized that circulating miRNAs could serve as biomarkers to distinguish human obesity subgroups with high or low extent of VAT inflammation. Indeed, they identified three circulating miRNAs that, taken together, serve as an accurate indicator of VAT inflammation.

Veksler-Lublinsky, from BGU’s department of software and information systems engineering, said the new method “is a first step in personalized medical care for those living with obesity by giving them a better indication of whether their condition imposes a particularly high health risk or not.”

The study was spearheaded by Nataly Makarenkov as part of her PhD thesis. Additional researchers included Yulia Haim, Uri Yoel, Yair Pincu, Tanya Tarnovscki, Idit F. Liberty, Ivan Kukeev, Lior Baraf, Oleg Dukhno, Oleg Zilber and Matthias Blüher.

The research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Israel Science Foundation.

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