Hormonal
Obesity-risk genes are highly expressed in specific cell types: hypothalamic neurons (regulating appetite), pancreatic beta-cells (regulating insulin), adipocytes (lipid homeostasis), and hepatocytes (lipid metabolism).
Obesity affects multiple organs. Your brain (hypothalamus) controls hunger, your pancreas controls insulin, your fat cells store energy, and your liver processes fats. Effective treatment often needs to address these specific tissues, which is why drugs like GLP-1 agonists (which act on the brain and pancreas) are effective.
Our analysis revealed that 227 genes... were highly expressed in neurons... 103 genes... were expressed in the β-cells of pancreatic islets... 178 genes... were expressed in adipocytes... 171 genes... were highly expressed in hepatocytes.
Why this rating
Based on single-cell transcriptomic analysis of public datasets, which is observational.
Source
A Complex Network of Obesity‐Risk Genes Revealed by Systematic Bioinformatics and Single‐Cell Transcriptomic Analyses
Y. Liu et al. · Journal of Obesity · 2025
DOI 10.1155/jobe/7821115
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- Targeted pharmacotherapy for obesity should focus on the MC4R pathway (e.g., MC4R agonists) for patients with specific genetic defects in upstream genes like POMC, PCSK1, or LEPR.Good
- Obesity pathogenesis is driven by a complex network of 802 core genetic risk genes that function through integrated neurological (appetite regulation, synaptic signaling) and metabolic (lipid/glucose homeostasis) pathways.Moderate
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