Department of Nutritional Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
Boshell Metabolic Diseases and Diabetes Program, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Nov 4;13(11):2030. doi: 10.3390/genes13112030.
Childhood obesity has affected the health of millions of children around the world despite vigorous efforts by health experts. The obesity epidemic in the United States has disproportionately afflicted certain racial and ethnic minority groups. African American children are more likely than other children to have obesity-related risk factors such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and coronavirus disease (COVID-19). For the reduction in obesity-related health inequalities to be successful, it is essential to identify the variables affecting various groups. A notable advancement in epigenetic biology has been made over the past decade. Epigenetic changes like DNA methylation impact on many genes associated with obesity. Here, we evaluated the DNA methylation levels of the genes , , and from the saliva of children using real-time quantitative PCR-based multiplex MethyLight technology. was used as a reference gene, and the Percent of Methylated Reference (PMR) was calculated for each sample. European American children showed a significant increase in PMR of and in overweight/obese participants compared to normal weight, but not in African American children. After adjusting for maternal education and annual family income by regression analysis, the PMR of and was significantly associated with BMI -score only in European American children. While for the gene , African American children had higher methylation in normal weight participants as compared to overweight/obese and no methylation difference in European American children. The PMR of LEPR was significantly negative associated with the obesity measures only in African American children. These findings contribute to a race-specific link between , , and gene methylation and childhood obesity.
尽管卫生专家做出了巨大努力，但全球仍有数百万儿童受到儿童肥胖问题的影响。美国的肥胖症流行对某些种族和族裔群体造成了不成比例的影响。非裔美国儿童比其他儿童更容易出现与肥胖相关的风险因素，如高血脂、糖尿病、心血管疾病和冠状病毒病 (COVID-19)。为了成功减少与肥胖相关的健康不平等现象，必须确定影响不同群体的变量。过去十年中，表观遗传学领域取得了显著进展。DNA 甲基化等表观遗传变化会影响与肥胖相关的许多基因。在这里，我们使用基于实时定量 PCR 的多重 MethyLight 技术评估了儿童唾液中基因 、 和 的 DNA 甲基化水平。 被用作参考基因，每个样本的 PMR（甲基化参考百分比）都被计算出来。与正常体重的儿童相比，超重/肥胖参与者的 和 的 PMR 在欧洲裔美国儿童中显著增加，但在非裔美国儿童中没有增加。通过回归分析调整母亲教育和家庭年收入后， 和 的 PMR 仅与欧洲裔美国儿童的 BMI 评分显著相关。对于基因 ，与超重/肥胖的参与者相比，正常体重的非裔美国儿童的甲基化程度更高，而欧洲裔美国儿童则没有甲基化差异。LEPR 的 PMR 与肥胖指标仅在非裔美国儿童中呈显著负相关。这些发现为 、 和 基因甲基化与儿童肥胖之间的种族特异性联系提供了依据。
