The study of the rs9939609 FTO gene polymorphism in association with obesity and the management of obesity in a Romanian cohort

The incidence of obesity especially in Romanian population is presently escalating as a major nutrition and health problem. Clinicians aided by scientists are engaged in research approaches that include heredity aspects linked with behavior, education, applied nutrition studies and clinical therapies in order to prevent, control and reverse obesity. The common goal is to identify areas of basic and clinical research to understand aspects of human biology that may be considered as obesogenic. Regarding these approaches, recent discoveries in genetics, epigenetics and functional genomics, based on advancing technologies, are tools employed to prevent and treat obesity. The purpose of this article is to present the current knowledge of key components of the FTO gene role in the obesogenic system that links genetic, epigenetic and environmental, lifestyle/ diet nutritional and behavioral components and to describe the results obtained by genotyping and interviewing relevant selected groups of Romanian population. FTO rs9939609 genotyping was performed on a Romanian study group of 53 subjects (30 obese, 23 normal). Results have been analyzed in association with obesity parameters and comorbidities in order to identify this polymorphism's effect on body mass in our Caucasian cohort. At the same time, personal history of the subjects in correlation with the FTO genotypes provided important information on the FTO gene's influence on the feeding behavior and food selection of these individuals. In conclusion, the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism has been identified as a common gene variant in our Romanian Caucasian cohort, proving a high association with all the parameters of obesity and obesity comorbidities. The adherence to a Mediterranean diet is benefic for subjects with genetic predisposition for this disorder as long as it is kept for a long period of time along with sustained physical exercise. Association studies are an extremely important tool in understanding the hunger-satiety pathway, providing information on the relation between obesity-related genes, gene expression and behavior.