Analysis of the relationship between three coding polymorphisms in LEPR gene and obesity in northern Chinese

SummaryTo determine the effect of variants in LEPR gene on obesity in northern Chinese, three coding polymorphisms Arg109Lys (A/G), Asn656Lys (C/G) and Pro1019Pro (C/T) were investigated for association with overweight and obesity. By a case control design, 248 overweight or obese subjects and 351 lean normal controls were recruited in Harbin region in north China. All three polymorphisms were genotyped by Sequenom single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection system in both cases and controls. Genotypes for all three polymorphisms were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in control subjects. Both groups had similar distribution of alleles and genotypes created by the three coding polymorphisms of LEPR gene. No differences in frequencies of genotypes or alleles between cases and controls for any polymorphism individually were found by χ2 analysis (p = 0.444, p = 0.507 and p = 0.662, respectively). Further, when the haplotypes of three polymorphisms were assessed, no association for any haplotype of three polymorphisms was revealed. In the present study, the three coding polymorphisms in LEPR gene were firstly investigated in a population of northern Chinese. It was suggested that the three coding polymorphisms in LEPR gene were unlikely to have major effects on susceptibility to obesity in northern Chinese.