College of Public Health Publishes on a Genetic Association with Obesity
Drs. Kesheng Wang, Xue Chen, Ying Liu, and Yongke Lu, faculty and staff in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, have published in the International Journal of Obesity. Among several co-authors is Master of Public Health student Youssoufou Ouedraogo. The article, “CYP2A6 is associated with obesity: studies in human samples and a high fat diet mouse model,” examines cytochrome enzymes in the liver and their association with obesity in humans.
Dr. Kesheng Wang, a genetic epidemiologist, and Dr. Yongke Lu, a basic biomedical researcher, collaborated to show a paradigm for combining epidemiological investigation with animal study. The study identified an association of the CYP2A6 gene with obesity in human subjects. In animal experiments, the researchers found that obesity and hepatic steatosis was more severe in the genetically altered mice suggesting that CYP2A protects against obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver.
Cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6) (CYP2A5 in mice), an enzyme can metabolize environmental toxicants, is mainly expressed in the liver. Hepatic CYP2A6 expression is increased in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is associated with obesity. Through genetic association study, Dr. Wang found that CYP2A6 is also associated with obesity in human populations. Dr. Lu applied an animal obesity model to confirm the finding in the human sample. The animal results suggest that CYP2A6 is a protective factor for the development of obesity and obesity-related fatty liver disease.
The International Journal of Obesity is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Nature Publishing Group. The journal addresses the development and treatment of obesity, and the functional impairments associated with the obese state. It publishes basic science and clinical studies that address the biochemical, epidemiological, genetical, molecular, metabolic, nutritional, physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of obesity.