Polymorphism of the PPARG, AGTR1, VEGF-A genes: frequency and association with obesity phenotypes

Aim. To assess the association of the allele and genotype frequencies of following single nucleotide polymorphisms: rs1801282 of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) gene, rs5186 of the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AGTR1) gene, rs699947 of the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) gene in patients with various phenotypes of abdominal (AO) and ectopic (EO) obesity.
Material and methods. The cross-sectional study included 100 Caucasian patients (47 men, 53 women, median age 58,5 [50;69] years). All patients underwent chest and retroperitoneal computed tomography with calculation of the volumes of perivascular (PVAT) and pericardial (PAT) adipose tissue, and perirenal fat thickness (PFT). PAT volume ≥3,2 cm3, PVAT volume ≥0,4 cm3, PFT thickness ≥1,91 cm were considered criteria for pericardial (PCO), perivascular (PVO) and perirenal (PRO) obesity. Alleles and genotypes of polymorphic markers of candidate genes were identified in all patients.
Results. In the distribution of genotypes of the polymorphic marker AGTR1 rs5186, statistical significance (p=0,014) was found between the group with any type of obesity and patients without obesity; the distribution of genotypes differed from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the EO (p=0,0009) and mixed obesity (p=0,05) groups. With regard to the marker VEGF-A rs699947, a significant increase in the frequency of the mutant allele C (62,5%, 50%, 46,3%, 47,75%, respectively) was found in the EO, AO, and EO+AO groups with any type of obesity compared to the non-obese group (40%) (χ2=10,806; p=0,013). A deviation of the frequency of VEGF-A rs699947 genotypes from HWE was found in the EO group (p=0).

Conclusion. Our data suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms PPARG rs1801282, AGTR1 rs5186, VEGF-A rs699947 may be associated with fat distribution in the body and be markers of various EO and AO phenotypes. Verification of our hypothesis requires additional studies with the inclusion of larger samples and comparison groups.

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