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Genetic variants in vitamin D metabolism-related genes and body mass index: analysis of genome-wide scan data of approximately 7000 Chinese women

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 1252–1255 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has been consistently associated with obesity. However, it is unclear whether vitamin D deficiency is the cause or consequence of obesity. We investigated this question by evaluating the association between genetic variants in vitamin D metabolism pathway genes and obesity-related traits. Using directly genotyped and imputed data from a genome-wide association study of 6922 women aged 25–70 years, we examined the association of 198 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in vitamin D pathway genes (CYP27A1, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP2R1, group-specific component (GC) and vitamin D nuclear receptor (VDR)) with body mass index (BMI) and body weight. Per allele beta (β) estimates were calculated for this association using linear regression models, controlling for age, square of age, menopausal status and sample sets. Overall, only two SNPs (rs2248359 in CYP24A1 and rs10832313 in CYP2R1) had a nominally significant association with BMI and weight (P<0.05 for all), with no variation observed by menopausal status, physical activity or dietary energy intake. None of the SNPs examined in the VDR gene were associated with BMI or weight. Our findings suggest that common genetic variants in vitamin D pathway genes do not have a major role in obesity among Chinese women. This comprehensive evaluation of genetic polymorphisms in vitamin D metabolism-related genes and obesity-related traits did not provide strong evidence to support low vitamin D levels as a cause of obesity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all study participants and the research staff for their contributions and commitment to this study; R Courtney for DNA preparation; and B Rammer for editing of the manuscript. This study was supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health (Grants R01CA124558, R01CA064277, R37CA070867, R01CA090899 and R01CA092585). Sample preparation and genotyping were conducted at the Vanderbilt Microarray Shared Resource, which is supported in part by the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (Grant P30 CA68485).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medicine and Public Health, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA

    T Dorjgochoo, J Shi, J Long, R Delahanty, Q Cai & X O Shu

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Shanghai, China

    Y-T Gao & Y-B Xiang

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  1. T Dorjgochoo
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  2. J Shi
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  3. Y-T Gao
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  4. J Long
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  7. Q Cai
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  8. X O Shu
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Correspondence to X O Shu.

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Dorjgochoo, T., Shi, J., Gao, YT. et al. Genetic variants in vitamin D metabolism-related genes and body mass index: analysis of genome-wide scan data of approximately 7000 Chinese women. Int J Obes 36, 1252–1255 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.246

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