Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Front Immunol. 2021 Dec 16;12:795580. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.795580. eCollection 2021.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Determining C-reactive protein (CRP) by non-invasive methods is of great interest for research addressing inflammation in young people. However, direct comparisons of such methods applied in children and adolescents are lacking so far. This study aimed to evaluate the association between CRP measured in dried blood spots (DBS CRP) and in saliva (sCRP), two less invasive alternatives to venipuncture, in 12- to 14-year-old adolescents. To evaluate the validity of both measurements in the context of biobehavioral studies, the potential of DBS CRP and sCRP to discriminate between defined BMI subgroups was assessed.
CRP levels in DBS and saliva collected from 87 healthy adolescents ( = 13.25 years, = 0.30, 51.7% females) were determined using high sensitive CRP ELISA for serum and salivary CRP ELISA, respectively. Characteristics and correlation of both measurements were assessed for the total sample and for three subgroups classified by BMI percentile ranges (A: ≤ 25; B: 26-74; C: ≥ 75).
In the total sample, DBS CRP and sCRP were significantly associated ( = 0.59, < 0.001). Splitting the sample into BMI-dependent subgroups revealed similarly strong associations of DBS CRP with sCRP for all three groups (A: = 0.51; B: = 0.61; C: = 0.53). However, comparing the mean CRP values per BMI subgroup, one-way ANOVA reported significant differences for DBS CRP, but not for sCRP mean values.
The significant correlation of DBS CRP with sCRP was independent of the investigated BMI range groups, yet BMI-dependent distinction was only provided by DBS CRP mean values. Overall, our results suggest that DBS CRP is likely to reflect systemic inflammation more precisely. Salivary CRP can be alternatively determined in studies with adolescents when conditions require it, given the oral health status is assessed. Considering that DBS CRP and sCRP share only 35% of common variance, further studies should examine their specific validity.
背景/目的：对于研究年轻人炎症的人来说，通过非侵入性方法测定 C 反应蛋白（CRP）具有重要意义。然而，目前还缺乏直接比较这些方法在儿童和青少年中的应用的研究。本研究旨在评估 12 至 14 岁青少年中，两种侵入性较小的替代静脉采血的方法，即从干血斑（DBS CRP）和唾液中（sCRP）测量 CRP 之间的相关性。为了评估这两种测量方法在生物行为研究中的有效性，评估了 DBS CRP 和 sCRP 区分特定 BMI 亚组的能力。
使用高敏 CRP ELISA 测定 87 名健康青少年（年龄 13.25 岁， = 0.30，51.7%为女性）DBS 和唾液中的 CRP 水平，分别用血清和唾液 CRP ELISA 进行检测。评估了两种测量方法在总样本和按 BMI 百分位范围（A：≤25；B：26-74；C：≥75）分类的三个亚组中的特征和相关性。
在总样本中，DBS CRP 和 sCRP 呈显著相关（ = 0.59， < 0.001）。将样本按 BMI 依赖性亚组划分后，DBS CRP 与所有三组 sCRP 的相关性均较强（A： = 0.51；B： = 0.61；C： = 0.53）。然而，比较每个 BMI 亚组的 CRP 平均值，单因素方差分析报告 DBS CRP 的平均值有显著差异，但 sCRP 的平均值没有显著差异。
DBS CRP 与 sCRP 的显著相关性独立于所研究的 BMI 范围组，但仅通过 DBS CRP 的平均值才能区分 BMI 依赖性。总的来说，我们的结果表明，DBS CRP 可能更准确地反映全身炎症。当研究条件需要时，可以在青少年研究中替代测定唾液 CRP，前提是口腔健康状况得到评估。鉴于 DBS CRP 和 sCRP 仅共享 35%的共同方差，进一步的研究应该检查它们的具体有效性。
