Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: It has been recently suggested the genetic predisposition to obesity leads to increased risk of type 2 diabetes by its obesity predisposing effect. Surprisingly genetic loci that contribute to the development of obesity identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) account for only 2% of the variance in BMI. Visceral fat accumulation has an important role in increasing the risk of developing metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and CVD, but data concerning the genetic background of body fat distribution are limited. The aim of our study was to analyze whether there are specific genetic factors that influence the risk of visceral fat accumulation.

Description of methods: We genotyped 64 SNPs within 40 genes associated with obesity and/or type 2 diabetes (identified by GWAS) in 468 overweight/obese patients and 245 healthy volunteers with normal weight (302 men and 411 women), who underwent anthropometry (BMI, WHR) and body composition analysis: body fat percentage, visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAT) by multi-frequency bio-impedance method.

Results and conclusion: The association of visceral fat content and VAT/SAT ratio with the distribution of genotypes of the following SNPs: MC4R rs1350341 (P=005; P=0.015), MC4R rs17782313 (P=0.035, P=0.002), PPARG rs1801282 (P=0.02, P=0.0019); BDNF rs6265 (P=0.034, P=0.006) and SH2B1 rs7498665 (P=0.042, P=0.0038) has been found in the studied subjects. Our results suggest that there are VAT-specific genetic factors that influence the risk of visceral fat accumulation. The identified genetic variants may help to understand the mechanisms of body fat distribution and serve as early biomarkers of increased risk of metabolic disorders development in overweight/obese patients.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.