Hassan Mehrad Majd - Clinical Research Unit, Quaem Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Majid Ghayour Mobarhan - Biochemistry of Nutrition Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Introduction: The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2 (PPAR-γ2) gene has been reported in the pathogeny of obesity. However, the results have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to assess the association between PPAR-γ2 Pro12Ala (rs1801282) polymorphism and obesity in an Iranian population. Materials and methods: A total of 227 subjects, including 81/103 obese/overweight and 43 healthy individuals were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured using standard protocols. All subjects were genotyped for Pro12Ala (rs1801282) SNP by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Univariate/multivariate analyses were used to determine the association of the genetic-polymorphisms with obesity and levels of different metabolic traits. Results: The genotype distributions for the Pro12Ala polymorphism were not significantly different between studied Groups. However, the carriers of Pro12Ala had higher waist circumference and waist to Hip ratio compared to the wild-type homozygotes (p=0.033 and p=0.019 respectively), indicating individuals with the A allele had a significantly higher risk of central obesity. Conclusion: Results of our preliminary study indicate that the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPAR-γ2 gene might not be a major etiological factor for obesity. However, it was associated with central obesity as a marker of obesity.

Obesity, PPAR gamma, Pro12Ala, Polymorphism