Hormonal
The association between obesity and DNA methylation at loci like HIF3A is not universal across all populations; specifically, HIF3A methylation associated with BMI in African Americans and European adults did not replicate in White replication cohorts (FHS/GOLDN) in this study.
Not all genetic or epigenetic markers for obesity work the same way for everyone. The HIF3A marker, often cited in research, was not found to be associated with BMI in this study's White cohorts, highlighting the need for personalized medicine approaches rather than one-size-fits-all biomarkers.
Interestingly, the HIF3A probes initially reported by Dick et al. (27) to be associated with BMI, and that we confirmed in African Americans earlier, did not replicate in leukocyte DNA from Whites in FHS and GOLDN.
Why this rating
Large replication cohorts; clear negative finding for a specific locus.
Source
Epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of BMI, BMI change and waist circumference in African American adults identifies multiple replicated loci
Ellen W. Demerath et al. · Human Molecular Genetics · 2015
DOI 10.1093/hmg/ddv161
More from this paper
- Higher body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are significantly associated with altered DNA methylation levels at specific genomic loci (including CPT1A, ABCG1, and HIF3A) in leukocytes, and these epigenetic signatures replicate across different ethnicities and tissue types, suggesting a biological link between adiposity and gene regulation.Good
- DNA methylation changes at loci such as CPT1A and ABCG1 are associated not just with current BMI, but with BMI change over time, suggesting these epigenetic markers may reflect dynamic metabolic history rather than just static adiposity.Good
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