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By Robyn White
Nature Reporter
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Scientists have discovered new genes that link obesity to sex and age.
In a study published in the journal Cell Genomics, scientists outline how the genes affect obesity in women, specifically.
"There are a million and one reasons why we should be thinking about sex, age, and other specific mechanisms rather than just lumping everyone together and assuming that disease mechanism works the same way for everyone," senior author of the study John Perry said in a news release. "We're not expecting people to have completely different biology, but you can imagine things like hormones and physiology can contribute to specific risks." Perry is a geneticist and professor at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, in England.
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Obesity is a disorder where a person carries excess body fat to a point where it is a risk to health. Someone is considered obese when they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. The disorder is extremely common, with 1 in 6 U.S. adults affected, according to the Obesity Medicine Association.
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To analyze how sex contributes to obesity risk, researchers looked at mutations or variants of genes that are associated with BMI in more than 400,000 adults. They found that three faulty gene variants correlated with a high BMI in women. The faulty variants, known as DIDO1, PTPRG, and SLC12A5, had no effect on men, however.
More than 80 percent of women with DIDO1 and SLC12A5 were obese, the study reports, and DIDO1 in particular was linked to a higher amount of testosterone. Women with SLC12A5 variants also appeared to have a greater chance of carrying Type 2 diabetes.
Next, researchers set their sights on assessing how age is linked to obesity risk by searching for genes associated with weight in childhood.
Two—known as OBSCN and MADD—were found. Those with OBSCN were more likely to have been overweight as a child, while MADD carriers tended to be smaller.
"What's quite surprising is that, if you look at the function of some of these genes that we identified, several are clearly involved in DNA damage response and cell death," said Perry. "There's currently no well-understood biological paradigm for how DNA damage response would influence body size. These findings have given us a signpost to suggest variation in this important biological process may play a role in the etiology of obesity."
Perry and his coworkers will not stop here. They plan to continue their research by assessing a more diverse population.
"We're at the very earliest stages of identifying interesting biology," Perry added. "We hope the study can reveal new biological pathways that may one day pave the way to new drug discovery for obesity."
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