Harnessing tissue-specific genetic variation to dissect putative causal pathways between body mass index and cardiometabolic phenotypes.

ABSTRACT: Body mass index (BMI) is a complex disease risk factor known to be influenced by genes acting via both metabolic pathways and appetite regulation. In this study, we aimed to gain insight into the phenotypic consequences of BMI-associated genetic variants, which may be mediated by their expression in different tissues. First, we harnessed meta-analyzed gene expression datasets derived from subcutaneous adipose (n = 1257) and brain (n = 1194) tissue to identify 86 and 140 loci, respectively, which provided evidence of genetic colocalization with BMI. These two sets of tissue-partitioned loci had differential effects with respect to waist-to-hip ratio, suggesting that the way they influence fat distribution might vary despite their having very similar average magnitudes of effect on BMI itsel

SUBMITTER: Leyden GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8874216 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature