| Summary: | Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis. Recently, many studies have suggested that lncRNAs, such as Metastasis Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 (MALAT1) and Imprinted Maternally Expressed Transcript (H19), might participate in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders such as obesity. We conducted a case-control study with 150 Russian children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17 years old in order to assess the statistical association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs3200401 in <i>MALAT1</i> and rs217727 in <i>H19</i>, and the risk of developing obesity in this population. We further explored the possible association of rs3200401 and rs217727 with BMI Z-score and insulin resistance. The <i>MALAT1</i> rs3200401 and <i>H19</i> rs217727 SNPs were genotyped using Taqman SNP genotyping assay. The <i>MALAT1</i> rs3200401 SNP was identified as a risk factor for childhood obesity (<i>p <</i> 0.05) under the dominant and allelic models, and the CT heterozygous genotype was associated with the risk of increased BMI and with insulin resistance. The <i>H19</i> rs217727 SNP had no significant association with obesity risk (all <i>p ></i> 0.05). Our findings thus suggest that <i>MALAT1</i> SNP rs3200401 is a potential indicator of obesity susceptibility and pathogenesis in children and adolescents.
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