Associations of variants of CNR1 with obesity and obesity-related traits in Chinese women

The aim of this study was to investigate associations of two candidate gene SNPs of the endocannabinoid receptor type 1 gene (CNR1) with overweight, obesity and obesity-related traits in Chinese retired women. The study subjects were a subsample of the Taizhou Retiree Women Cohort, consisting of 2812 retired women aged 50–64 years recruited from Taizhou, Jiangsu, China. Neither rs2023239 nor rs806381 polymorphism was significantly associated with body mass index-defined overweight and obesity or waist-to-hip-ratio-defined obesity. For obesity-related traits, rs2023239 was significantly associated with glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) (median, 18.00 vs 17.00 for TT and TC genotypes, respectively, P = 0.043). The rs806381 also showed significant association with triglyceride (TG) (mean ± SD, 1.46 ± 0.20 vs 1.53 ± 0.20 for GA and GG + AA genotypes, respectively, P = 0.013) under the dominant genetic model. In conclusion, the rs2023239 and rs806381 polymorphisms of CNR1 were not associated with increased overweight and obesity risk. But the rs2023239 polymorphism was significantly associated with GPT, and the rs806381 polymorphism was significantly associated with TG.

► We genotyped 2 SNPs (rs2023239 and rs806381) of CNR1 in 2812 Chinese retired women.
► We examined associations of the 2 SNPs with obesity and obesity-related traits.
► The 2 SNPs are not associated with an increased risk of obesity.
► The 2 SNPs are associated with levels of GPT, creatinine, and triglyceride.