Genetic and environmental determinants of hepatocyte growth factor levels and their association with obesity and blood pressure.
BACKGROUND
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a member of the adipocytokine family; it is implicated in tissue repair, regeneration, and angiogenesis. Several studies have reported that the HGF plays important role in obesity and cardiovascular disease.


OBJECTIVE
This study examines whether HGF and its phenotypic correlations with obesity and blood pressure (BP), in healthy individuals, are due to shared genetic or common environmental factors.


METHODS
Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), BP, and HGF plasma concentrations were measured in a sample of 733 individuals belonging to 248 pedigrees.


RESULTS
The most significant phenotypic correlations were found among HGF, WHR, and systolic BP (p < 0.001). Analysis of the familial aggregation revealed that parent-offspring and sibling correlations in HGF levels, adjusted for age, age(2), and sex, were statistically highly significant (p < 0.001). Variance decomposition analysis showed that when adjusted for potential covariates, 48.4% of the HGF variation was due to putative genetic factors. The genetic correlations between all pairs of studied traits (HGF, WHR, and SBP) were statistically significant (p < 0.02) and ranged between 0.23 +/- 0.07 and 0.40 +/- 0.07. However, correlation between WHR and BP becomes non-significant after adjustment for HGF.


CONCLUSIONS
The results provide evidence that putative genetic factors involved in regulation of HGF variation contribute also significantly to variation of the obesity and BP. It is possible that the familial resemblance for WHR and the SBP correlation in the studied sample is affected substantially by genetic factors regulating circulating HGF levels.
Vistoropsky
Yulia
Y
Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Human Population Biology Research Unit, Israel.
Trofimov
Svetlana
S
Malkin
Ida
I
Kobyliansky
Eugene
E
Livshits
Gregory
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics*; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004777:Environment; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D010641:Phenotype; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D035781:Siblings; D013599:Systole
D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor