Genes Identified in Common Childhood Obesity

An article in ScienceDaily shows that at least two new gene variants that increase the risk of common childhood obesity have been identified. "This is the largest-ever genome-wide study of common childhood obesity, in contrast to previous studies that have focused on more extreme forms of obesity primarily connected with rare disease syndromes," said lead investigator Struan F.A. Grant, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "As a consequence, we have definitively identified and characterized a genetic predisposition to common childhood obesity." This study was done by an international collaborative group, the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium.
Obesity is a major health issue in today’s society, and has had a dramatic increase recently in children. Researchers have found that children who are obese have a higher risk of motility as adults. Although many other environmental factors such as diet and exercise contribute to the increasing rates of obesity in children, twin studies and other family-based studies have suggested a genetic component to the disease as well.
Previous studies have found genetic variants that contribute to obesity in adults and children with extreme obesity, but little is known about genes involved with regular childhood obesity. "The Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has recruited and genotyped the world's largest collection of DNA from children with common obesity," said Grant. "However, in order to have sufficient statistical power to detect novel genetic signals, we needed to form a large international consortium to combine results from similar datasets from around the world."
The current analysis included 14 previous studies encompassing 5,530 cases of childhood obesity and 8,300 control subjects, all of European ancestry. Researchers identified two novel loci, one near the OLFM4 gene on chromosome 13, the other within the HOXB5 gene on chromosome 17. They also found a possibility for two other gene variants. None of these genes were previously implicated in obesity.
"This work opens up new avenues to explore the genetics of common childhood obesity," said Grant. "Much work remains to be done, but these findings may ultimately be useful in helping to design future preventive interventions and treatments for children, based on their individual genomes."

[caption id="attachment_4351" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A child with obesity."][/caption]