Dr. Wen-Harn Pan, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and her colleagues have linked severe obesity in Han Chinese to two specific genes. Their research, published in the August volume of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shows that severe obesity is associated with polymorphisms in two genes named ESR1 and PPAR. Polymorphism in the sense used here refers to common mutations in genes. These common mutations are termed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Three polymorphisms in the two genes were found to be associated with obesity.

In addition to the initial finding, the researchers also discovered that when risk polymorphisms of these two genes are present at the same time, it resulted in an even greater risk of obesity, than when only one of these polymorphisms was found in a patient. It concurs with a five-time greater risk of becoming severely obese.

 In their search for obesity genes in Han Chinese, the researchers concentrated on 18 genes which have been found linked to obesity within other populations in more than five studies and 14 genes with particular implications for Asians. Initially, 304 severely obese patients from Min-Sheng General Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan were tested during a two-stage study, along with 304 controls. The study was then repeated with an additional 220 severely obese patients and a further 338 controls. All the controls were matched according to age, sex, education, and place of residence with the obese patients.

 "This research has shed light on our understanding of genetic contribution to severe obesity in humans, particularly in Han Chinese" said Dr. Pan, "the polymorphisms discovered can be used to screen high risk individuals for severe obesity". "In view of the global increase in obesity, this information is essential in personalized obesity prevention and management."

 The research article entitled "Severe obesity is associated with novel single nucleotide polymorphisms of the ESR1 and PPAR locus in Han Chinese" can be found in the August volume of the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition at: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/2/255

 The full list of authors is: Hsin-Hung Chen, Wei-Jei Lee, Cathy S.J. Fann, Claude Bouchard and Wen-Harn Pan.