Effects of Environmental Factors on the Prevalence of Korean Obesity According to Hsp40/C6 Gene SNPs

OBJECTIVES: Obesogenic environments (OE) to induce the fat accumulation are also risk factors of related chronic diseases. In previous studies, the metabolic rate for energy consumption such as BMR and RMR were significantly correlated with obesity prevalence. Our purpose was to find the scientific evidences of the connection among energy consumption (BMR or RMR), genomics related to BMR or RMR, and obesity prevalence in children and adults. METHODS: Using Affymetrix® Genome-Wide Human SNP 6.0 Array, genes related with BMR/RMR and BMI were screened in children (n = 512) from the cohort study, and adult subjects (N = 77) from the cross-sectional study. The correlation or association between SNPs of those genes and obesity prevalence or OE was estimated by Cochran-Armitage trend test and logistic regression. The data for family history, anthropometrics, blood biochemistry, dietary intakes and other OE were used in this study. RESULTS: Hsp40/C6 gene was highly associated with both of obesity (BMI) and (BMR/RMR) in children. However, Hsp40/C6 gene was not significantly confirmed in adults, and all significant genes derived from adults were not screened in children. We found that several OE and genes affect obesity prevalence in children or adults are different. We focused on the mutant types of five SNPs in Hsp40/C6 gene derived from children were associated with obesity by reducing energy consumption. CONCLUSIONS: We discovered the different genes related to energy consumption in obese children and adults. The mutation of Hsp40/C6 may change energy consumption and eventually induce obesity. These findings will contribute to find the mechanism of Hsp40/C6 gene on the fat accumulation in future. FUNDING SOURCES: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP) (2019R1A2C1008434).