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Leptin, Insulin, and Obesity‐related Phenotypes: Genetic Influences on Levels and Longitudinal Changes
Author(s) -
Friedlander Yechiel,
Meiner Vardiella,
Sharon Nir,
Siscovick David S.,
Miserez Andre R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1038/oby.2008.672
Subject(s) - heritability , leptin , obesity , phenotype , insulin , polygene , additive genetic effects , biology , anthropometry , bivariate analysis , medicine , endocrinology , genetics , quantitative trait locus , gene , statistics , mathematics
This study estimated the genetic and environmental determinants of plasma leptin and insulin levels and of obesity‐related phenotypes. Included in this analysis were family members from 80 families living in kibbutz settlements, who participated in two examinations 8–10 years apart. We estimated that polygenes explained 30–50% of the adjusted leptin and insulin levels and 30–70% of the anthropometric phenotypes. This study demonstrated a significant genetic influence on longitudinal changes in leptin and BMI ( h 2 = 0.45) and small‐to‐moderate heritability estimates for changes in insulin and other obesity‐related phenotypes. In bivariate genetic analyses, we observed positive genetic correlations between leptin and anthropometric phenotypes, suggesting that shared effects of the same sets of loci account for 20–30% of the additive genetic variance in these pairs of variables. Shared genetic factors also account for 20–25% of the additive genetic variance in insulin—anthropometric pairs of variables.