Secoisolariciresinol Levels in Central Precocious Puberty: A Metabolomic Study on Disease Association and Obesity

Secoisolariciresinol Levels in Central Precocious Puberty: A Metabolomic Study on Disease Association and Obesity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Secoisolariciresinol Levels in Central Precocious Puberty: A Metabolomic Study on Disease Association and Obesity Haidan LI, Manfang XIE, Hailing LUO, Yuhua CAI, Li LIU, Hongai LI, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7355526/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background and Objective: Obesity is a significant risk factor for Central Precocious Puberty (CPP), and dietary phytoestrogens are also implicated. This study aimed to identify differential serum metabolites in girls with CPP. Methods: This case-control study included 100 girls with CPP (CC group) and 100 healthy control girls (NN group). Serum samples were analyzed using a non-targeted metabolomics approach via UHPLC-MS/MS. Statistical analysis, including one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD test, was used to identify differential metabolites. The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) and STRING database were utilized to predict disease associations and potential protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks for key metabolites. Results: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed distinct metabolic profile differences between CPP and control groups, with high system stability confirmed by quality control analysis (Pearson r > 0.99). Serum Secoisolariciresinol levels were significantly elevated in all CPP subgroups (COB, COW, C) compared to their non-CPP counterparts (NOB, NOW, N) (P < 0.0001). Within the CPP cohort, Secoisolariciresinol levels were also positively associated with BMI, being significantly higher in obese and overweight girls than in those with normal weight (P < 0.0001). Bioinformatic analysis predicted a strong link between Secoisolariciresinol and obesity and identified key protein targets including EGFR, ESR1, and IGF1R. Molecular docking subsequently confirmed a stable, high-affinity binding between Secoisolariciresinol and the active site of EGFR. Conclusion: Secoisolariciresinol shows strong potential as a biomarker for CPP, correlating with both disease status and body weight. Its predicted interactions with targets like EGFR suggest involvement in CPP pathogenesis via key signaling pathways, offering new insights for diagnosis and intervention. Central Precocious Puberty Metabolomics Secoisolariciresinol Biomarker EGFR Obesity Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 17 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 11 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 17 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 21 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 12 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7355526","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":515312873,"identity":"fe22f0f4-a02d-48ed-8b3b-5a197d52aaa5","order_by":0,"name":"Haidan LI","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hainan Women and Children’s Medical Center（Hainan Medical University School of Pediatrics）","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haidan","middleName":"","lastName":"LI","suffix":""},{"id":515312874,"identity":"7d87e737-6ba9-4c22-99fd-6011037e646c","order_by":1,"name":"Manfang XIE","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hainan 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This study aimed to identify differential serum metabolites in girls with CPP.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods: This case-control study included 100 girls with CPP (CC group) and 100 healthy control girls (NN group). Serum samples were analyzed using a non-targeted metabolomics approach via UHPLC-MS/MS. Statistical analysis, including one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD test, was used to identify differential metabolites. The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) and STRING database were utilized to predict disease associations and potential protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks for key metabolites.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed distinct metabolic profile differences between CPP and control groups, with high system stability confirmed by quality control analysis (Pearson r \u0026gt; 0.99). Serum Secoisolariciresinol levels were significantly elevated in all CPP subgroups (COB, COW, C) compared to their non-CPP counterparts (NOB, NOW, N) (P \u0026lt; 0.0001). Within the CPP cohort, Secoisolariciresinol levels were also positively associated with BMI, being significantly higher in obese and overweight girls than in those with normal weight (P \u0026lt; 0.0001). Bioinformatic analysis predicted a strong link between Secoisolariciresinol and obesity and identified key protein targets including EGFR, ESR1, and IGF1R. Molecular docking subsequently confirmed a stable, high-affinity binding between Secoisolariciresinol and the active site of EGFR.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusion: Secoisolariciresinol shows strong potential as a biomarker for CPP, correlating with both disease status and body weight. Its predicted interactions with targets like EGFR suggest involvement in CPP pathogenesis via key signaling pathways, offering new insights for diagnosis and intervention.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Secoisolariciresinol Levels in Central Precocious Puberty: A Metabolomic Study on Disease Association and Obesity","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-17 06:19:11","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7355526/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-11-18T04:05:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-11T18:12:55+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"330092256476333003323137168698661806352","date":"2025-10-09T13:49:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"88299407775540446009024718169761385249","date":"2025-09-25T15:41:46+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-17T11:54:31+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"208004882597953108393798295608027579430","date":"2025-09-11T06:58:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"240962902122930313343665312965251601188","date":"2025-09-10T12:53:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-10T09:51:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-08-21T19:53:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-08-18T15:30:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"European Journal of Medical Research","date":"2025-08-12T11:55:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"european-journal-of-medical-research","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"ejmr","sideBox":"Learn more about [European Journal of Medical Research](http://eurjmedres.biomedcentral.com)","snPcode":"40001","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/40001/3","title":"European Journal of Medical Research","twitterHandle":"@BioMedCentral","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f7c187d1-9a84-4c09-ab63-9ea2c618b79b","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 17th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-24T10:01:47+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-17 06:19:11","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7355526","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7355526","identity":"rs-7355526","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}