UC San Diego

Metabolic syndrome, which characterizes an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes mellitus, can be characterized by risk factors such as obesity and hypertension. These risk factors are predicted by traits like body mass index (BMI) and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP & DBP). Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene coding for the type 2 neuropeptide receptor (NPY2R) may affect BMI, SBP, and DBP since NPY2R and its ligand, peptide YY (PYY) are involved in the suppression of appetite. 703 individuals of Caucasian, Hispanic, and African-American biogeographical ancestry were genotyped for three candidate SNPs, rs6851222 (G-1606A), rs6857715 (C-599T), and rs1047214 (T+ 5895C), in the NPY2R promoter and open reading frame. No significant associations were found between these SNPs and BMI, SBP, and DBP (p>0.05). However, significant associations were found between haplotypes of these SNPs and these metabolic syndrome traits. In the aforementioned order of SNPs, haplotype GTT demonstrated a pleiotropic, positive directional effect on these three traits (BMI: p=0.000375, SBP: p=0.0187, and DBP: p=0.0318). Further study of this gene locus will help determine the relationship between these SNPs and the metabolic syndrome traits of body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure