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Polymorphisms of the FTO and MTHFR genes and vascular, inflammatory and metabolic marker levels in postmenopausal women

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Abstract

Objective

To determine the prevalence of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in postmenopausal women with and without the metabolic syndrome (METS) and to explore levels of circulating biomarkers of inflammation, vascular and metabolic dysfunction according to SNP genotypes.

Methods

DNA was extracted from the whole blood of 192 natural postmenopausal women (40 to 65 years) screened for the METS and tested for three gene SNPs related to obesity: the fat mass obesity (FTO: rs9939609) and the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR: C677T and A1298C). Blood levels of angiopoietin, IL-8, sFASL, IL-6, TNF-α, sCD40L, PAI-1, u-PA, leptin, adiponectin, resistin, ghrelin, visfatin, adipsin and insulin were measured in a subgroup, with and without the METS, using multiplex technology (n = 100) and compared according to SNP genotypes.

Results

Genotype frequency of the three studied SNPs did not differ in relation to the presence of the METS. However, genotypes CT+TT (C677T) and AT (rs9939609) were more prevalent in women with high triglyceride levels. Pooled sub-analysis (n = 100) found that median sCD40L and visfatin levels were higher in women with genotypes AT+TT (rs9939609) as compared to AA (1178 vs. 937.0 pg/mL and 0.93 vs. 0.43 ng/mL, respectively, p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Two SNP genotypes related to obesity were more prevalent in women with abnormal triglyceride levels and two vascular and inflammatory serum markers were higher in relation to the rs9939609 SNP.

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Acknowledgments

We thank women who participated in this initiative and Diego Villacreses, Isabel Vintimilla-Sigüenza and Lucía Romero-Huete who performed clinical surveys. This research was supported by the Sistema de Investigación y Desarrollo (SINDE) of the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Ecuador, through Grant No. SIU-3373-2011 (The Omega I Women’s Health Project, 2011) provided to P.CH; Grant No. SIU-275-876-2013 provided to G.S.E, and partly through Grant No. SIU-318-853-2014 (The Omega II Women’s Health Project, 2014) provided to P.CH; and, also by the PRIN grants 2004057090-007 and 20102CHST5 by the Italian University and Scientific Research Ministry (MIUR) provided to T.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedicine, Research Area for Women’s Health, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, PO BOX 09-01-4671, Guayaquil, Ecuador

    P. Chedraui, G. S. Escobar & J. A. Espinoza-Caicedo

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Facultad de Medicina, Lozano Blesa University Hospital, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    F. R. Pérez-López

  3. Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    M. Montt-Guevara, A. R. Genazzani & T. Simoncini

Authors
  1. P. Chedraui
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  2. F. R. Pérez-López
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  3. G. S. Escobar
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  4. J. A. Espinoza-Caicedo
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  5. M. Montt-Guevara
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  6. A. R. Genazzani
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  7. T. Simoncini
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Research Group for the Omega Women’s Health Project

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Chedraui.

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All the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Ethical approval

The research protocol of the study was reviewed and approved by the Scientific Research Committee of the Institute of Biomedicine. All procedures performed in the present study involving humans were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participanting in this study.

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Chedraui, P., Pérez-López, F.R., Escobar, G.S. et al. Polymorphisms of the FTO and MTHFR genes and vascular, inflammatory and metabolic marker levels in postmenopausal women. J Endocrinol Invest 39, 885–890 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0443-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0443-7

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