Replication of Interactions between Genome-Wide Genetic Variants and Body Mass Index in Fasting Glucose and Insulin Levels

• Main Authors: Kyung-Won Hong, Myungguen Chung, Seong Beom Cho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea Genome Organization 2014-12-01
• Series: Genomics & Informatics
• Subjects: European; glucose; GWAS; insulin; SNP
• Online Access: http://genominfo.org/upload/pdf/gni-12-236.pdf

The genetic regulation of glucose and insulin levels might be modified by adiposity. With regard to the genetic factors that are altered by adiposity, a large meta-analysis on the interactions between genetic variants and body mass index with regard to fasting glucose and insulin levels was reported by the Meta-Analyses of Glucose- and Insulin-related trait Consortium (MAGIC), based on European ancestry. Because no replication study has been performed in other ethnic groups, we first examined the link between reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and fasting glucose and insulin levels in a large Korean cohort (Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study cohort [KoGES], n = 5,814). The MAGIC study reported 7 novel SNPs for fasting glucose levels and 6 novel SNPs for fasting insulin levels. In this study, we attempted to replicate the association of 5 SNPs with fasting glucose levels and 5 SNPs with fasting insulin levels. One SNP (rs2293941) in PDX1 was identified as a significant obesity-modifiable factor in Koreans. Our results indicate that the novel loci that were identified by MAGIC are poorly replicated in other ethnic groups, although we do not know why.