Fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) in eating disorders: evidence for association of the rs9939609 obesity risk allele with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa.
OBJECTIVE
The common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9939609 in the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is associated with obesity. As genetic variants associated with weight regulation might also be implicated in the etiology of eating disorders, we evaluated whether SNP rs9939609 is associated with bulimia nervosa (BN) and anorexia nervosa (AN).


METHODS
Association of rs9939609 with BN and AN was assessed in 689 patients with AN, 477 patients with BN, 984 healthy non-population-based controls, and 3,951 population-based controls (KORA-S4). Based on the familial and premorbid occurrence of obesity in patients with BN, we hypothesized an association of the obesity risk A-allele with BN.


RESULTS
In accordance with our hypothesis, we observed evidence for association of the rs9939609 A-allele with BN when compared to the non-population-based controls (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.142, one-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.001-∞; one-sided p = 0.049) and a trend in the population-based controls (OR = 1.124, one-sided 95% CI 0.932-∞; one-sided p = 0.056). Interestingly, compared to both control groups, we further detected a nominal association of the rs9939609 A-allele to AN (OR = 1.181, 95% CI 1.027-1.359, two-sided p = 0.020 or OR = 1.673, 95% CI 1.101-2.541, two-sided p = 0.015,).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that the obesity-predisposing FTO allele might be relevant in both AN and BN.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Timo D
TD
Müller
Brandon H
BH
Greene
Laura
L
Bellodi
Maria C
MC
Cavallini
Elena
E
Cellini
Daniela
D
Di Bella
Stefan
S
Ehrlich
Stefano
S
Erzegovesi
Xavier
X
Estivill
Fernando
F
Fernández-Aranda
Manfred
M
Fichter
Christian
C
Fleischhaker
Susann
S
Scherag
Monica
M
Gratacòs
Harald
H
Grallert
Beate
B
Herpertz-Dahlmann
Wolfgang
W
Herzog
Thomas
T
Illig
Ulrike
U
Lehmkuhl
Benedetta
B
Nacmias
Marta
M
Ribasés
Valdo
V
Ricca
Helmut
H
Schäfer
André
A
Scherag
Sandro
S
Sorbi
Heinz-Erich
HE
Wichmann
Johannes
J
Hebebrand
Anke
A
Hinney
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000235:genetics*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012306:Risk; D055815:Young Adult
D011506:Proteins; D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO; C526492:FTO protein, human