Genes linking the timing of puberty fatty body among women

PharmaLive.com (22 November 2010) - scientists have discovered 30 new genes that control the age of sexual maturity among women. Notably, many of these genes Act on body weight regulation or biological pathways associated with the metabolism of lipids. The study, which appears in Nature Genetics, was a collaboration with the international consortium of ReproGen, which included scientists 175 104 institutions around the world, including the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health effort.

Female puberty occurs normally aged 11 to 14 years.If a child reaches a particular weight (about 45 kg / 100 lbs), the onset of puberty is heavier déclenché.Le child, earlier puberty occurs, possibly affect risk of disease later.

Massimo Mangino, an author of Twin Department College of London's King's Department, explains: "it's fascinating influence common genetic variants in early puberty and weight gain."The findings give us clues on how closely linked are different biological processes. »

Appearance raw rules, the appearance of the first menstruation in girls, indicate the achievement of their reproductive capacity and are widely used the pubertal time marker. Age of onset of the first rules varies greatly and depends heavily on nutritional status. Appearance first rules are linked to many adverse health later in life, including cancer of the breast, cancer of the endometrium, obesity, diabetes type results 2 and cardiovascular disease, as well as shorter adult stature.

To identify the locus for age at the time of the appearance of the first rules, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 32 scale genome association studies on women and overseeing of United States, Europe and Australia and has carried out close to 15,000 women supplémentaires.En more loci known LIN28B and 9q31.2, researchers identified 30 new loci of early menarche and found replication studies evocative for another 10 loci.According to the researchers, the new loci loci included four previously associated with body mass index, three in or near other genes involved in energy homeostasis and three in or near genes involved in hormonal regulation.Ingenuity and the entire gene enrichment pathway analysis identified the COA biosynthesis and fatty acids such as biological processes related to the appearance of the first rules.

"Our study found genes involved in regulating hormone, the development of cells and other biological pathways associated with the mechanisms of age at the onset of the first rules which shows that the timing of puberty is controlled by a range complex biological processes" said lead author Joanne Murabito, MD, MSC, Associate Professor of medicine at the BUSM and Director of the clinic and researcher at the Framingham Heart Study.

"Many of the genes of the rules have been associated with weight and obesity in other studies suggesting some women may have a genetic susceptibility to weight gain and the puberté.Il early is important to understand that these"genetic factors"may be modified by changes in the way of vie.Les efforts to reduce or prevent obesity should in turn help to reduce the appearance at the beginning of puberty in girls, child" added Murabito.

The next steps according to the researchers are to review the results among women of other race / ethnic groups, as well as to examine whether these genetic loci influence growth and to determine if the associations are actuated by adiposity corporelle.Ce future work measures will help to elucidate the biological mechanism underlying the associations.

Editor's note: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Source of the story:

The story above is reproduced (with drafting adaptations by staff at PharmaLive.com) materials provided by Boston University Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Reference of the review:

Cathy E Elks et al. thirty new loci for age at the time of the appearance of the first rules by a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identified .Nature Genetics, 21 November 2010 DOI: 10.1038/ng.714

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited for this.

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