Relationships of gamma-glutamyltransferase and beta 2-microglobulin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein among Japanese elementary school children.

Recent studies reported that gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and beta 2-microglobulin (ß2M) are possible markers of cardiovascular disease in adults, however, their roles among children have not been fully elucidated. We have examined the relationships of GGT and ß2M on C-reactive protein (CRP) among 326 healthy elementary school children. To investigate the relationships of serum GGT and ß2M levels on measuring of CRP, multiple regression analysis and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed. After being adjusted for confounders, body mass index, log-transformed GGT, and ß2M were significantly related to CRP. Independent of other risk factors, ANCOVA showed that serum ß2M levels were significantly associated with serum CRP (p=0.012, p for trend <0.001), and GGT levels had similar results (p=0.211, p for trend=0.035). These results suggest that serum ß2M and GGT levels are useful indicators for evaluating the occurrence of slight inflammation as background, which promotes atherosclerosis even in healthy children.