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ORIGINALRESEARCH doi:10.1111/ijpo.12113

Validation of obesity susceptibility loci identified by

genome-wide association studies in early childhood in

South Brazilian children

1
1
2
M. R. Zandoná, C. N. Sangalli, 1,3 P. d. B. Campagnolo, M. R. Vitolo, 1,3 S. Almeida and ORIGINALRESEARCH
V. S. Mattevi 1

1
Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal Summary
University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto
2
Alegre, RS, Brazil; Department of Nutrition, Vale Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity has been dramati-
do Rio do Sinos University, São Leopoldo, RS, cally increasing in developing countries as it has been reported for devel-
3
Brazil; Nutrition Research Group (NUPEN), oped nations. Identifying susceptibility genes in early life could provide the
Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto foundations for interventions in lifestyle to prevent obese children to
Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
become obese adults.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of
Address for correspondence: VS Mattevi, genetic variants related to obesity identified by genome-wide association
Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de
studies (MC4R, TMEM18, KCTD15, SH2B1, SEC16B, BDNF, NEGR1,
Porto Alegre, Rua Sarmento Leite, 245, sala
OLFM4 and HOXB5 genes) on anthropometric and dietary phenotypes in
309, CEP 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
two Brazilian cohorts followed-up since birth.
E-mail: vmattevi@ufcspa.edu.br
Methods: There were 745 children examined at birth, after 1 year and
Received 3 July 2015; revised 11 December 2015;
accepted 4 January 2016 after 3.5 years of follow-up. Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms were
genotyped. Anthropometric and dietary parameters were compared
among genotypes. Children were classified as overweight when body
mass index Z-score was >+1.
Results: Overweight prevalence was 30.7% at 3.5 years old. Significant
associations were identified at 3.5 years old for TMEM18 rs6548238,
NEGR1 rs2815752, BDNF rs10767664 and rs6265 (1 year old and
3.5 years old) with anthropometric phenotypes and at 3.5 years old for
SEC16B rs10913469 with dietary parameters.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that genetic variants in/near these
genes contribute to obesity susceptibility in childhood and highlight the
age at which they begin to affect obesity-related phenotypes.

Keywords: Children, energy intake, genetic susceptibility, overweight.

Introduction influencing body mass index (BMI), with heritability
estimations varying from 40% to 70% (2).
Childhood obesity prevalence has increased very fast Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have
over recent decades, and now it represents a serious identified several loci in the human genome containing
public health concern not restricted to developed genetic variants associated with common diseases,
nations but in the developing countries as well. such as obesity. More than 97 genetic loci have been
Preventing overweight from early childhood is of robustly associated with obesity-related traits (3), but,
great importance in terms of public health because in general, a little overlap in the results of these studies
most times overweight tracks through adulthood (1). has been observed. A review of GWAS for obesity-
This complex phenotype results from the interaction related traits published until September 2012 (during
of environmental and multiple genetic factors the conception of this study) revealed that until that

© 2016 World Obesity. Pediatric Obesity ••, ••–••