Association study of rs17782313 polymorphism near MC4R gene with obesity/overweight, BMI, and hedonic hunger among women from Northwestern Iran

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Narjabadifam, Mahan^{a; 1} | Bonyadi, Morteza^{a; *; 2} | Rafat, Seyed Abbas^{b; 3} | Mahdavi, Reza^{c; 4} | Aliasghari, Fereshteh^{c; 5}

Affiliations: [a] Center of Excellence for Biodiversity, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran | [b] Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran | [c] Nutrition Research Center, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Morteza Bonyadi, Ph.D., Center of Excellence for Biodiversity, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Tel.: +98 41 33 35 7622; Fax: +98 41 33 35 7239; E-mail: bonyadijm@yahoo.com.

Note: [1] ORCID-ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6221-8556

Note: [2] ORCID-ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3216-2947

Note: [3] ORCID-ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0231-1331

Note: [4] ORCID-ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5444-2395

Note: [5] ORCID-ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9191-1592

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Obesity, as a medical condition, results from interactions between environmental and genetic factors. The rs17782313 polymorphism, located 188kb downstream of the Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R) gene, is one of the essential candidate genetic markers that has shown the highest association with obesity in different populations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the possible associations of rs17782313 polymorphism near the MC4R gene with obesity/overweight, body mass index (BMI), and hedonic hunger among women from the Iranian Azeri ethnic group. METHODS: Five hundred sixty-three women, composed of 396 patients with obesity/overweight and 167 unrelated healthy controls, were genotyped for the rs17782313 polymorphism by applying the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) method. RESULTS: This population was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P = 0.878). The study confirmed a significant association of rs17782313 with obesity, where subjects carrying the C/C genotype had higher odds of obesity (OR = 2.681, P = 0.005, 95%CI:1.340–5.365). Also, C allele carriers have statistically significantly higher BMI scores than those carrying the T allele (P = 0.029). However, no significant associations were found among PFS scores and genotypic/allelic groups of rs17782313 polymorphism (P = 0.368). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that rs17782313 polymorphism is strongly associated with obesity and BMI but not with hedonic hunger among Northwest Iran women. Moreover, the sequencing data analysis in several homozygous and heterozygous carriers of the C allele led to identifying a novel frameshift variant with TCT deletion (rs534212081) in the 166 upstream of rs17782313, which has not been reported so far.

Keywords: Body mass index (BMI), hedonic hunger, melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), obesity, overweight, rs17782313

DOI: 10.3233/MNM-200530

Journal: Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 353-364, 2021