Genetic differences in body fat shape men and women's health risks


Date:
September 28, 2020
Source:
University of Virginia Health System
Summary:
New findings about body fat help explain the differing health
risks men and women face - and set the stage for better, more
targeted treatments.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
New research is revealing how genetic differences in the fat in men's
and women's bodies affect the diseases each sex is likely to get.


========================================================================== University of Virginia researchers Mete Civelek, PhD, Warren Anderson,
PhD, and their collaborators have determined that differences in fat
storage and formation in men and women strongly affect the activity of
162 different genes found in fat tissue. Further, 13 of the genes come
in variants that have different effects in men and women.

Some of those genes identified have already been connected with conditions
such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The findings help
explain the differing health risks men and women face, and they set the
stage for better, more targeted treatments.

"Obesity is associated with a number of health risks, and how men and
women store excess calories as fat makes a difference in how they
have different susceptibilities to common diseases," said Civelek,
of UVA's Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of
UVA's School of Medicine and School of Engineering. "We studied people
of different ethnicities and health conditions, and we found a group
of genes that are different in their abundance between men and women independent of ethnicity or health status." Fat Genes One of the great challenges of genetic research is the tremendous volume of information
it produces. Previous studies had identified thousands of genes found
in fat that appeared to behave differently based on sex, but Civelek
and his collaborators found "robust" differences in only 162. This was
based on the researchers' analysis of approximately 3,000 human samples collected from geographically and ethnically diverse populations.

"By combining a variety of data resources, we were able to identify
specific genes that could be targeted to elicit distinct therapeutic
outcomes in men and women." said Anderson, a member of Civelek's lab.

Digging deeper, the researchers identified six specific genes that were particularly influential in terms of regulating the activity of fat
tissue. "We can now focus on these six genes as potential therapeutic
targets," Civelek said.

The findings are particularly notable because there has been much research
into sex differences in fat tissue in terms of its distribution (pear
shaped vs.

apple shaped bodies, for example) and other aspects, but the important
genetic contributions have remained relatively unexplored.

"We believe our findings will be beneficial in precision medicine
efforts to find drug targets that can help with specific problems that
men and women face," Civelek said. "For example, men are more prone
to cardiovascular disorders and women to obesity. The fat genes we
identified could contribute to the severity of those illnesses and how
men and women respond to treatment differently."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Virginia_Health_System. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Warren D. Anderson, Joon Yuhl Soh, Sarah E. Innis, Alexis Dimanche,
Lijiang Ma, Carl D. Langefeld, Mary E. Comeau, Swapan K. Das,
Eric E.

Schadt, Johan L.M. Bjo"rkegren, Mete Civelek. Sex differences in
human adipose tissue gene expression and genetic regulation involve
adipogenesis. Genome Research, 2020; DOI: 10.1101/gr.264614.120 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928093746.htm

--- up 5 weeks, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)