BoneKEy Reports | BoneKEy Watch
Variants associated with sex differences related to body fat distribution
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2013.208
Most of the differences between men and women are unfathomable by either sex, but the authors of a genome-wide association study have attempted to look at the genetic basis of the obvious variability between male and female weight, height and body fat. Randall et al. searched the entire human genome for sex-related differences in key body measurements by carrying out a meta-analysis of 94 studies, which had investigated relevant variants in over 270 000 people (133 723 individuals were used in the first analysis and 137 052 in the follow-up replication).
Seven loci were identified as being significant in women but not in men, and all were observed with waist phenotypes, not with overall body mass index (BMI) or height. Four were previously known (near the genes VEGFA, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, GRB14/COBLL1 and ADAMTS9), but three genes suggested novel associations with sex-related BMI variation; these were located near the genes MAP3K1, HSD17B4 and PPARG.
Editor’s comment: The association between female waist circumference and the variant at PPARG is interesting because this gene encodes a nuclear hormone receptor that is known to have a role in the development of type 2 diabetes and was shown to interact with dietary fat on the BMD in humans and mice.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.