DNA POLYMORPHISM IN THE UNCOUPLING PROTEIN-1 (UCP1) GENE HAS NO EFFECT ON OBESITY RELATED PHENOTYPES IN THE SWEDISH OBESE SUBJECTS COHORTS

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationships between the A-G point muta tion at position -3826 bp in the 5' flanking domain of the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1 A-3826G) and some obesity phenotypes in the Swedish Ob ese Subjects (SOS) cohorts of obese and non-obese men and women. Previ ous studies have supported the hypothesis of an association between th e UCP1 A-3826G polymorphism and body weight regulation in humans. DESI GN: Case-control study comparing obese subjects from the SOS registry and a sample of the Swedish general population (body mass index (BM[) <27 kg/m(2)) with respect to genotype and allele frequencies of the UC P1 A-3826G polymorphism, SUBJECTS: A total of 985 Swedish subjects inc luding 674 obese (310 Male; 364 Female) and 311 non-obese subjects (54 Male; 257 Female) from the SOS cohorts, MEASUREMENTS: DNA was extract ed from total blood and genotyped by PCR-RFLP. Obesity-related phenoty pes include weight history for SOS obese cohort and current weight, BM I, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio (WHR) for obese and norm al weight subjects. R RESULTS: No significant difference in the alleli c frequencies between obese and non-obese subjects (0.25 vs 0.24; P = 0.67). In both genders, current weight, BMI, waist circumference, WHR and weight gain over time (either measures of maximal weight ever achi eved minus weight at 20 y or current weight minus weight at 20 yl were similar in carriers and non-carriers of the UCP1 A-3826G mutation (P> 0.05). Similar results were obtained when the three genotypes were com pared. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to what was found in other populations , the UCP1 A-3826G sequence variation is not associated with obesity-r elated phenotypes and weight gain over time in subjects from the SOS c ohorts.