Hypermethylation of the TSPOAP1-AS1 Promoter May Be Associated with Obesity in Overweight/Obese Korean Subjects
Obesity is a major chronic disease associated with the risk of serious cardiovascular or endocrinal diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis and stroke. Considerable interest has been directed towards the potential effects of epigenetic variations in obesity. In this study, we evalu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2020-05-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/9/3307 |
| Summary: | Obesity is a major chronic disease associated with the risk of serious cardiovascular or endocrinal diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis and stroke. Considerable interest has been directed towards the potential effects of epigenetic variations in obesity. In this study, we evaluated DNA methylation level at the promoter region of the gene encoding TSPO-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (TSPOAP1-AS1) in 80 overweight/obese subjects (body mass index (BMI) > 25) and 104 non-obese subjects who participated in the SOPI-Stroke study in Korea. DNA methylation was measured using bisulfite amplicon sequencing (BSAS). A general linear model or relative correlation was used to determine the effects of DNA methylation on obesity and obese phenotypes. Notably, the mean level of DNA methylation was significantly higher in the overweight/obese group than in the non-obese group (18.62% vs. 17.18%). Further analyses revealed significant positive correlations of the BMI, the serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels with the DNA methylation level (<i>p</i> = 0.0493, <i>p</i> = 0.003, and <i>p</i> = 0.0094, respectively). The study findings suggest an association between DNA methylation at the <i>TSPOAP1-AS1</i> promoter and overweight/obesity. Accordingly, methylation in this promoter region might be a potential predictor of obesity. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |