Genome-wide association study of body fat distribution identifies adiposity loci and sex-specific genetic effects.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30664634.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-08000-4 and PMC identifier 6341104.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Body mass and body fat composition are of clinical interest due to their links to cardiovascular- and metabolic diseases. Fat stored in the trunk has been suggested to be more pathogenic compared to fat stored in other compartments. In this study, we perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for the proportion of body fat distributed to the arms, legs and trunk estimated from segmental bio-electrical impedance analysis (sBIA) for 362,499 individuals from the UK Biobank. 98 independent associations with body fat distribution are identified, 29 that have not previously been associated with anthropometric traits. A high degree of sex-heterogeneity is observed and the effects of 37 associated variants are stronger in females compared to males. Our findings also implicate that body fat distribution in females involves mesenchyme derived tissues and cell types, female endocrine tissues as well as extracellular matrix maintenance and remodeling.
Medical subject headings
- Adipose Tissue
- Body Fat Distribution
- Genetic Loci
- Obesity
- Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide