The Role of Obesity‐associated Loci Identified in Genome‐wide Association Studies in the Determination of Pediatric BMI |
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| Authors: | Jianhua Zhao Jonathan P Bradfield Mingyao Li Kai Wang Haitao Zhang Cecilia E Kim Kiran Annaiah Joseph T Glessner Kelly Thomas Maria Garris Edward C Frackelton F George Otieno Julie L Shaner Ryan M Smith Rosetta M Chiavacci Robert I Berkowitz Hakon Hakonarson Struan FA Grant |
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| Institution: | 1. Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;2. Center for Applied Genomics, Abramson Research Center, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;3. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;4. Behavioral Health Center and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;5. Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;6. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
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| Abstract: | The prevalence of obesity in children and adults in the United States has increased dramatically over the past decade. Besides environmental factors, genetic factors are known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity. A number of genetic determinants of adult BMI have already been established through genome‐wide association (GWA) studies. In this study, we examined 25 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) corresponding to 13 previously reported genomic loci in 6,078 children with measures of BMI. Fifteen of these SNPs yielded at least nominally significant association to BMI, representing nine different loci including INSIG2, FTO, MC4R, TMEM18, GNPDA2, NEGR1, BDNF, KCTD15, and 1q25. Other loci revealed no evidence for association, namely at MTCH2, SH2B1, 12q13, and 3q27. For the 15 associated variants, the genotype score explained 1.12% of the total variation for BMI z‐score. We conclude that among 13 loci that have been reported to associate with adult BMI, at least nine also contribute to the determination of BMI in childhood as demonstrated by their associations in our pediatric cohort. |
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