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New Targets Emerge for Tackling Obesity
Sifting through the genetic codes of 77,000 people, a British-led international team say they have found culprit variants in DNA near a gene already fingered in the molecular ballet that causes obesity.
The gene, called MC4R, orchestrates appetite and energy expenditure.
Previous research has already found that MC4R, when flawed, triggers a form of chronic over-eating and weight gain which is rare but dramatic, especially when it strikes young children.
The newly-found variants are more common than the flaws on MC4R, though, according to the paper, published on Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.
The variants do not lie on the gene but close to it. The theory is that they disrupt the workings of MC4R in some way, although how this happens remains unclear.
People who have the variants in both sets of their chromosomes on average increase in weight of about 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) compared to counterparts who had no copies.
The telltales were found by a consortium gathering researchers from 77 institutions in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States, led by scientists in Cambridge and Oxford.
People who have double sets of the variants near MC4R and of a flawed gene called FTO are on average 3.8 kilos (8.5 pounds) heavier than people without these characteristics, according to the new study.
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