Individually Tailored Screening of Susceptibility to Sarcopenia Using p53 Codon 72 Polymorphism, Phenotypes, and Conventional Risk Factors

BACKGROUND AND AIM p53 activity plays a role in muscle homeostasis and skeletal muscle differentiation; all pathways that lead to sarcopenia are related to p53 activities. We investigate the allelic frequency of the TP53 codon 72 in exon 4 polymorphism in the Italian female population and the association with appendicular skeletal muscle mass index in normal weight (NW), normal weight obese (NWO), and preobese-obese (Preob-Ob) subjects. METHODS We evaluated anthropometry, body composition, and p53 polymorphism in 140 women distinguished in NW, NWO, and Preob-Ob. RESULTS *Arg/*Arg genotype increases sarcopenia risk up to 20% (*Arg/*Arg genotype OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 0.48-2.9; *proallele carriers OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.83-2.06). The risk of being sarcopenic for *Arg/*Arg genotype in NWO and Preob-Ob is 31% higher than NW carriers of *proallele (RR = 0,31, 95% CI = 0,15-0,66, P = 0,0079). We developed a model able to predict sarcopenia risk based on age, body fat, and p53 polymorphism. CONCLUSION Our study evidences that genotyping TP53 polymorphism could be a useful new genetic approach, in association with body composition evaluations, to assess sarcopenia risk.