Gender-specific associations of genetic variants with metabolic syndrome components in the Tunisian population

Sahar Elouej (1) , Insaf Rejeb (1) , Redha Attaoua (2) , Majdi Nagara (1) , Om Kalthoum Sallem (1) , Ines Kamoun (3) , Mariem Chargui (1) , Henda Jamoussi (1, 3) , Zinet Turki (3) , Abdelmajid Abid (1, 3) , Claude Ben Slama (3) , Sonia Bahri (4, 5) , Habiba Ben Romdhane (6) , Sonia Abdelhak (1) , Rym Kefi (1) , Florin Grigorescu (2)

1 LR11IPT05 - Laboratoire de Génomique Biomédicale et Oncogénétique - Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics Laboratory
2 NutriPass - Nutrition et Alimentation des Populations aux Suds
3 INNTA - Institut National de Nutrition et de Technologie Alimentaire (Tunis)
4 Laboratoire central de biologie médicale, Institut Pasteur de Tunis
5 UTM - Université de Tunis El Manar
6 Faculté de Médecine de Tunis

AIM OF THE STUDY: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic variants associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, their contribution to MetS in ethnic groups in Tunisia is largely unexplored. In this study, we aim to examine the associations of related loci with a risk of metabolic syndrome in a sample of Tunisians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Overall seven polymorphisms rs7265718, rs10401969, rs762861, rs12310367, rs1562398, rs2059807, rs4420638 located at C20orf152, CILP2, LRPAP1, ZNF664, KLF14, INSR, APOE, respectively, were analyzed in 356 samples from the Tunisian population. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were assessed. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). RESULTS: We find that LRPAP1-rs762861 C allele increases susceptibility to MetS (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 0.99-1.95, p = 0.041). Separate analysis in men and women revealed the association of rs762861 among females (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.057-2.41, p = 0.021), but not among males (OR = 0.953, 95% CI = 0.51-1.78, p = 0.882). ZNF664-rs12310367 was also found to be associated with body mass index (BMI) in women (p = 0.01) and not in men (p = 0.18). KLF14-rs1562398 was significantly correlated with impaired fasting glucose (p = 0.004) only in men. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal new candidate genes for MetS in the Tunisian population and suggest that the genetic basis of this syndrome is gender dependent. Further studies are necessary to understand why these associations differ between males and females.

Mots clés: Gender; North Africa; Tunisia; metabolic syndrome; polymorphisms

Domaines: Médecine humaine et pathologie; Génomique, Transcriptomique et Protéomique [q-bio.GN]

Sahar Elouej, Insaf Rejeb, Redha Attaoua, Majdi Nagara, Om Kalthoum Sallem, et al.. Gender-specific associations of genetic variants with metabolic syndrome components in the Tunisian population. Endocrine Research, 2016, 41 (4), pp.300-309. ⟨10.3109/07435800.2016.1141945⟩. ⟨hal-01356539⟩