Scientists from the Charite Medical University of Berlin found that a change in the activity of a single gene during embryonic development may be associated with an increased risk of overweight in women. The research was published in the journal Science Translation Medicine.
The development of obesity is associated with lifestyle and socio-economic factors as well as various mutations. A new study has confirmed the existence of another risk factor: “turning off” the gene with the help of chemical modification of DNA.
The study’s authors examined the POMC gene in more than 1,100 people. They found that in women with a BMI over 35 (corresponding to obesity), this gene had more methyl groups than women of normal body weight. Methyl groups are little chemical “tags” that the body uses to label letters in the DNA code. This allows you to activate or deactivate the gene without changing the original DNA.
If a particularly high number of methyl groups was added to the POMC gene, the risk of obesity in women increased by about 44%. Previous research has shown that this gene is responsible for feeling full.
In some cases, disruption of the POMC gene is not associated with a change in its activity, but with a disruption in it, that is, a mutation. For people with this mutation, a drug has already been approved to help them lose weight. Scientists have shown that this drug, which suppresses the feeling of hunger, is also effective for women with high methylation of the POMC gene.
Within three months of starting treatment, all five patients who took the drug experienced less hunger. They lost an average of seven kilograms – about 5% of their weight. Some continued treatment and continued to lose weight.
“Larger controlled studies will be needed to show whether treatment with this drug will be effective for longer periods of time, and if so, how effective and how safe this type of therapy is,” the scientists said.
Experiments by other scientists have shown that the presence or absence of certain nutrients (betaine, methionine and folic acid) can affect the degree of DNA methylation. But so far it is impossible to intentionally influence the methylation process.
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Source: Gazeta
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