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Review
. 2020 Oct 20:11:575049.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.575049. eCollection 2020.

Genetics of Obesity in East Asians

Chang Sun  1 , Peter Kovacs  1 , Esther Guiu-Jurado  1
Affiliations
Review

Genetics of Obesity in East Asians

Chang Sun et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Obesity has become a public health problem worldwide. Compared with Europe, people in Asia tend to suffer from type 2 diabetes with a lower body mass index (BMI). Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified over 750 loci associated with obesity. Although the majority of GWAS results were conducted in individuals of European ancestry, a recent GWAS in individuals of Asian ancestry has made a significant contribution to the identification of obesity susceptibility loci. Indeed, owing to the multifactorial character of obesity with a strong environmental component, the revealed loci may have distinct contributions in different ancestral genetic backgrounds and in different environments as presented through diet and exercise among other factors. Uncovering novel, yet unrevealed genes in non-European ancestries may further contribute to explaining the missing heritability for BMI. In this review, we aimed to summarize recent advances in obesity genetics in individuals of Asian ancestry. We therefore compared proposed mechanisms underlying susceptibility loci for obesity associated with individuals of European and Asian ancestries and discussed whether known genetic variants might explain ethnic differences in obesity risk. We further acknowledged that GWAS implemented in individuals of Asian ancestries have not only validated the potential role of previously specified obesity susceptibility loci but also exposed novel ones, which have been missed in the initial genetic studies in individuals of European ancestries. Thus, multi-ethnic studies have a great potential not only to contribute to a better understanding of the complex etiology of human obesity but also potentially of ethnic differences in the prevalence of obesity, which may ultimately pave new avenues in more targeted and personalized obesity treatments.

Keywords: BMI; East Asians; GWAS; genetics; obesity.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Overlap of reported loci associated with BMI in European and Asian cohorts based on p-value < 10–8.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A visual representation of all replicated and non-replicated loci at p-value < 10–8 in GWAS conducted in individuals of European and Asian ancestries. Replicated loci are coded with the same color.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Risk allele frequency and effect size of top ranked obesity susceptibility loci which reached genome association significant p-value in European and Asian cohorts. BMI-related loci shown in this figure with p < 5 × 10–8 in both cohorts. p-values and effect size are according to reference studies reported (Supplementary Table S1). The allele frequency is based on genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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