AKT1 polymorphisms are associated with risk for metabolic syndrome.
Converging lines of evidence suggest that AKT1 is a major mediator of the responses to insulin,insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), and glucose. AKT1 also plays a key role in the regulation of both muscle cell hypertrophy and atrophy. We hypothesized that AKT1 variants may play a role in the endophenotypes that makeup metabolic syndrome. We studied a 12-kb region including the ﬁrst exon of the AKT1 gene for association with metabolic syndrome-related phenotypes in four study populations [FAMUSS cohort (n = 574; age 23.7 ± 5.7 years), Strong Heart Study (SHS) (n = 2,134; age 55.5 ± 7.9 years), Dynamics of Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) (n = 3,075; age 73.6 ± 2.9 years), and Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Deﬁned Exercise (STRRIDE)(n = 175; age 40–65 years)]. We identiﬁed a three SNP haplotype that we call H1, which represents the ancestral alleles eles at the three loci and H2, which represents the derived alleles at the three loci. In young adult European Americans (FAMUSS), H1 was associated with higher fasting glucose levels in females. In middle age Native Americans (SHS), H1 carriers showed higher fasting insulin and HOMA in males, and higher BMI in females. Inolder African-American and European American subjects(Health ABC) H1 carriers showed a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome. Homozygotes for the H1 haplotype showed about twice the risk of metabolic syndrome in both males and females (p < 0.001). In middle-aged European Americans with insulin resistance (STRRIDE) studied by intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT), H1 carriers showed increased insulin resistance due to the Sg component (p = 0.021). The 12-kb haplotype is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance that needs to be explored in further populations.
Department of Integrative Systems Biology, Research Center for Genetic Medicine, Children’s National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20010, USA
Joseph M
JM
Devaney
Heather
H
Gordish-Dressman
Brennan T
BT
Harmon
Margaret K
MK
Bradbury
Stephanie A
SA
Devaney
Tamara B
TB
Harris
Paul D
PD
Thompson
Priscilla M
PM
Clarkson
Thomas B
TB
Price
Theodore J
TJ
Angelopoulos
Paul M
PM
Gordon
Niall M
NM
Moyna
Linda S
LS
Pesca
Paul S
PS
VIsich
Robert F
RF
Zoeller
Richard L
RL
Seip
Jinwook
J
Seo
Bo Hyoung
BH
Kim
Laura L
LL
Tosi
Melissa
M
Garcia
Rongling
R
Li
Joseph  M
J
Zmuda
Matthew J
MJ
Delmonico
Robert S
RS
Lindsay
Barbara V
BV
Howard
William E
WE
Kraus
Eric P
EP
Hoffman
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt