Skip to main content
NUTRITION 2026 Main banner

(OR22-01-26) Stimulation-Induced Bioenergetic Re-wiring Is Altered in Immune Cells From Children With Overweight/Obesity

Monday, July 27, 2026
4:30 PM - 4:42 PM ET
Location: National Harbor 4-5

    Presenting Author(s)

  • SR

    Shannon Rose, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Associate Professor
    University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Nursing
    Memphis, Tennessee, United States

    Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • EB

    Elisabet Børsheim, PhD

    Arkansas Children’s Research Institute
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

  • RL

    Reid D. Landes

    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, United States

  • ET

    Emir Tas

    University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States

Disclosure(s):
Shannon Rose, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: Inflammation emerges early and drives insulin resistance (IR) in children with obesity. We reported increased mitochondrial respiration in resting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in children with obesity and IR. To better understand immunometabolism in childhood obesity, we examined how PBMCs bioenergetics change upon ex vivo stimulation and hypothesized that stimulation-induced bioenergetic changes differ among children based on body mass index (BMI) and IR.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 46 children aged 8–17 years. Exclusion criteria included having a recent infection, a chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, neurologic, developmental, endocrine, hepatic, autoimmune, cardiac, renal disorders), and use of antipsychotics, thyroid hormone therapy, inhaled/oral steroids, insulin, anabolic drugs, or stimulants. BMI and BMIz were calculated using CDC growth charts. IR was estimated using the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Fresh isolated PBMCs were cultured for 40 hours with or without anti-CD3/anti-CD28 Dynabeads (1 bead/cell). ATP production rates from mitochondrial respiration (mitoATP) and glycolysis (glycoATP) were measured by Seahorse. Spearman correlations tested associations among ATP production rates, BMIz, and HOMA-IR.

Results: In resting PBMCs, total ATP production (mitoATP + glycoATP) rate positively correlated with BMIz (r = 0.301, p = 0.040) and HOMA-IR (r = 0.312, p = 0.035). Stimulation-induced bioenergetic changes were not correlated with BMIz or HOMA-IR in the full cohort. However, among children with overweight/obesity (BMIz ≥ 1.036; n = 21), stimulation-induced change in glycoATP was negatively associated with BMIz (r = -0.502; p = 0.020) and HOMA-IR (r = -0.442; p = 0.045).

Conclusions: Metabolic activation of resting immune cells increases along with obesity and IR in children and may impair stimulation-induced bioenergetic re-wiring. Understanding the mechanisms driving metabolic activation of immune cells will provide clues to obesity-associated chronic inflammation and may offer critical insights into strategies for reducing inflammation and enhancing metabolic health in children with obesity.

Funding Sources: NIGMS, Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Arkansas Biosciences Institute, and USDA/ARS