The association of common variants in PCSK1 with obesity: a HuGE review and meta-analysis

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

  • Pieter Stijnen
  • Krizia Tuand
  • V Varga, Tibor
  • Paul W Franks
  • Bert Aertgeerts
  • John W M Creemers

Congenital deficiency of the proprotein convertase subtilisine/kexin type 1 gene (PCSK1), which encodes proprotein convertase 1/3, causes a severe multihormonal disorder marked by early-onset obesity. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs6232 and rs6234-rs6235 in PCSK1 have been associated with obesity. However, case-control studies carried out in populations of different ethnicities have only partly replicated this association. Moreover, these SNPs have only weakly been associated with body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)(2)) at a genome-wide level of significance. To investigate this discrepancy, we conducted a systematic search for studies published before December 2013 and extracted relevant data. Pooled estimates were calculated for overall and subgroup analyses. This meta-analysis confirmed the association of PCSK1 SNPs with obesity and provides the first evidence that the association between PCSK1 rs6232 and obesity is stronger for childhood obesity than for adult obesity. Moreover, we identified weak associations with body mass index and significantly stronger associations with waist circumference for rs6234-rs6235. No difference was found in the association with different obesity grades, and no association of PCSK1 rs6234-rs6235 with obesity was identified in Asian populations. This systematic Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE) review showed convincingly that the SNPs rs6232, rs6234, and rs6235 in PCSK1 are associated with obesity in Caucasians.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Journal of Epidemiology
Volume180
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1051-1065
Number of pages15
ISSN0002-9262
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2014
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

    Research areas

  • Body Mass Index, Humans, Obesity/genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proprotein Convertase 1/genetics, Waist Circumference/genetics

ID: 242838410