Obesity is positively associated with arachidonic acid-derived 5- and 11-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE)

We report that BMI, WC, and several serum cytokines were highly associated arachidonic acid (ARA)-derived hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), and vicinal diols (i.e., alcohols on adjacent carbon atoms) derived from several PUFAs. There was a significant linear relationship between BMI, WC, and serum leptin, and ARA-derived 5-, 11-, and 15-HETE. Specifically, BMI and WC were positively associated with proinflammatory 5- and 11-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), even after normalization to ARA concentrations and false discovery p-value correction. Individuals with 5-HETE concentrations > 5.01 nmol/L or 11-HETE concentrations and > 0.89 nmol/L were over 5 times more likely to be obese compared to those with ≤ 1.86 nmol/L and ≤ 0.39 nmol/L, respectively. Vicinal diols from linoleic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acid were inversely associated with obesity. Across all statistical tests, vicinal diols were inversely associated with obesity whether normalized to parent PUFA concentrations or normalized to precursor epoxides. Interestingly, the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α were not associated with any oxylipids. Since 5-HETE is a 5LOX product, 11-HETE is marker of lipid peroxidation, and vicinal diols are formed through soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) metabolism of CYP epoxygenated PUFAs, therefore, these results indicate that obesity is likely associated with altered metabolism with distinct oxygenating pathways. Taken together, our results indicate that obesity is associated with specific oxylipids indicative of altered PUFA metabolism through several pathways (i.e., LOX, reactive oxygen species, and sEH and CYP epoxygenase), rather than attributed solely to altered dietary PUFA intake.