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DNA sequence variation in ACVR1C encoding the activin receptor-like kinase 7 influences body fat distribution and protects against type 2 diabetes

  • Connor A. Emdin
  • , Amit V. Khera
  • , Krishna Aragam
  • , Mary Haas
  • , Mark Chaffin
  • , Derek Klarin
  • , Pradeep Natarajan
  • , Alexander Bick
  • , Seyedeh M. Zekavat
  • , Akihiro Nomura
  • , Diego Ardissino
  • , James G. Wilson
  • , Heribert Schunkert
  • , Ruth McPherson
  • , Hugh Watkins
  • , Roberto Elosua
  • , Matthew J. Bown
  • , Nilesh J. Samani
  • , Usman Baber
  • , Jeanette Erdmann
  • Namrata Gupta, John Danesh, Danish Saleheen, Stacey Gabriel, Sekar Kathiresan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

A genetic predisposition to higher waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI), a measure of body fat distribution, associates with increased risk for type 2 diabetes. We conducted an exome-wide association study of coding variation in UK Biobank (405,569 individuals) to identify variants that lower WHRadjBMI and protect against type 2 diabetes. We identified four variants in the gene ACVR1C (encoding the activin receptor-like kinase 7 receptor expressed on adipocytes and pancreatic b-cells), which independently associated with reduced WHRadjBMI: Asn150His (20.09 SD, P = 3.4 3 10217), Ile195Thr (20.15 SD, P = 1.0 3 1029), Ile482Val (20.019 SD, P = 1.6 3 1025), and rs72927479 (20.035 SD, P = 2.6 3 10212). Carriers of these variants exhibited reduced percent abdominal fat in DEXA imaging. Pooling across all four variants, a 0.2 SD decrease in WHRadjBMI through ACVR1C was associated with a 30% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 0.70, 95% CI 0.63, 0.77; P = 5.6 3 10213). In an analysis of exome sequences from 55,516 individuals, carriers of predicted damaging variants in ACVR1C were at 54% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.27, 0.81; P = 0.006). These findings indicate that variants predicted to lead to loss of ACVR1C gene function influence body fat distribution and protect from type 2 diabetes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)226-234
Number of pages9
JournalDiabetes
Volume68
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2019
Externally publishedYes

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