Abstract

Health problems caused by obesity are emphasized around the world. Obesity related diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer are major causes of mortalities and morbidities. The matrix metallopeptidases (MMPs) are extracellular matrix (ECM)-specific enzymes produced by bone and plasma cells. MMPs play an important role in the degradation and remodeling of the ECM. In the present study, the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the MMP genes (MMP1, MMP7, MMP8, MMP12, MMP20, MMP26, and MMP27) and overweight/obesity in Korean population was investigated. For the analysis of genotyping, SNPAnalyzer, Helixtree, and SNPStats programs were used. In this study, we found that one SNP (rs2499953, of MMP26) was significantly associated with overweight/obesity (dominant model, OR=1.73, 95% CI=1.05∼2.85, p=0.031). The rs2499953 SNP is located on exon 2 of the MMP 26 and exchanged in glutamic acid to lysine at amino acid position 43. Our study is the first to show a significant association between an SNP of MMP26 and overweight/obesity. In conclusion, the result suggests that MMP26 gene may be associated with overweight/obesity in Korean population. (Korean J Str Res 2009;17:169∼173)

• Keywords: Genetic association, Obesity, Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), Matrix metallopeptidase (MMP);