Melanocortin-4 receptor gene: case-control study and transmission disequilibrium test confirm that functionally relevant mutations are compatible with a major gene effect for extreme obesity

We initially performed a mutation screen of the coding region of the MC4R in 808 extremely obese children and adolescents and 327 underweight or normal-weight controls allowing for a case-control study. A total of 16 different missense, nonsense, and frameshift mutations were found in the obese study group; five of these have not been observed previously. In vitro assays revealed that nine [the haplotype (Y35X; D37V) was counted as one mutation] of the 16 mutations led to impaired cAMP responses, compared with wild-type receptor constructs. In contrast, only one novel missense mutation was detected in the controls, which did not alter receptor function. The association test based on functionally relevant mutations was positive (P = 0.006, Fisher's exact test, one-sided). We proceeded by screening a total of 1040 parents of 520 of the aforementioned obese young index patients to perform transmission disequilibrium tests. The 11 parental carriers of functionally relevant mutations transmitted the mutation in 81.8% (P = 0.033; exact one-sided McNemar test). These results support the hypothesis that these MC4R mutations represent major gene effects for obesity

Analysis of sequence variations in the suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3 gene in extremely obese children and adolescents

BACKGROUND: The suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3 is a negative feedback regulator of cytokine signaling and also influences leptin signaling. We investigated association of variations in the coding sequence and promoter region of SOCS3 with extreme obesity in German children and adolescents. METHODS: An initial screen for sequence variations in 181 extremely obese children and adolescents and 188 healthy underweight adults revealed two previously reported single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the SOCS3 5' region: -1044 C>A (numbering refers to bases upstream of ATG in exon 2) within a predicted STAT3 binding element and -920 C>A (rs12953258, for numbering, see above). RESULTS: We did not detect significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies for any of these SNPs between the analysed study groups (all nominal p > 0.2). In addition, we performed a pedigree transmission disequilibrium test (PDT) for the SNP -1044 C>A in families comprising 703 obese children and adolescents, 281 of their obese siblings and both biological parents. The PDT revealed no transmission disequilibrium (nominal p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our data do not suggest evidence for a major role of the respective SNPs in SOCS3 in the pathogenesis of extreme obesity in our study groups