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Prognostic significance of FTO genotype in the development of obesity in Japanese: the J-SHIPP study

International Journal of Obesity volume 33, pages 1243–1248 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

Susceptibility of fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene polymorphisms to obesity has been reported in various populations. Polymorphisms in the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) gene were recently explored as another susceptible locus. However, prognostic significance of these genetic variations has not been fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the involvement of FTO rs9939609 and MC4R rs17782313 polymorphisms in the development of obesity. Association with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was also investigated.

Subjects:

We analyzed 2806 community-dwelling middle-aged to elderly subjects (61±14 years). Clinical parameters were obtained from the subjects' personal health records, evaluated at their annual medical check-up.

Results:

FTO genotype was significantly associated with current body mass index (BMI; TT 23.2±3.2, TA 23.7±3.2, AA 24.4±3.2 kg m−2, P=2.5 × 10−6) and frequency of obesity (26.6, 32.0, 43.0% respectively, P=2.0 × 10−4). Age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio for obesity was 1.30 (P=0.004) in TA and 2.07 (P=0.002) in AA genotype. During the 9.4 years comprising the follow-up period, 214 new cases of obesity were diagnosed among 1718 subjects whose retrospective data were available. A allele frequency of the FTO genotype was significantly higher in subjects who developed obesity (22.2, 15.8%, P=0.001), Age-, sex- and initial BMI-adjusted odds ratio for the development of obesity was 1.46 (95% confidence interval, 1.04–2.04) (P=0.031). However, association studies and meta-analysis of T2DM did not actively support the involvement of FTO genotype. No significant differences were observed between the MC4R genotype and BMI (P=0.015), and the frequency of obesity (P=0.284).

Conclusion:

FTO genotype is an independent risk factor for future development of obesity.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan; the Japan Arteriosclerosis Prevention Fund; and a Research Promotion Award from Ehime University.

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Author notes

  1. Y Tabara and H Osawa: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Medical Research and Education, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon City, Ehime, Japan

    Y Tabara

  2. Department of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon City, Ehime, Japan

    H Osawa, H Onuma, Y Takara, W Nishida & H Makino

  3. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon City, Ehime, Japan

    H Guo, M Yamamoto, K Kohara & T Miki

  4. Department of Community Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon City, Ehime, Japan

    R Kawamoto

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Ehime Prefectural Hospital, Matsuyama City, Ehime, Japan

    I Shimizu

  6. Department of Anti-aging and Genomics, Ehime Proteo-Medicine Research Center, Toon City, Ehime, Japan

    Y Tabara, H Osawa, H Onuma, K Kohara & T Miki

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  1. Y Tabara
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Correspondence to Y Tabara.

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Tabara, Y., Osawa, H., Guo, H. et al. Prognostic significance of FTO genotype in the development of obesity in Japanese: the J-SHIPP study. Int J Obes 33, 1243–1248 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.161

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.161

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