Molecular Screening of Obesity Candidate Gene Variant Neuropeptide Y Receptor Type 2 (NPY2R) A172T Among Malaysian Subjects

The association of the A172T Neuropeptide Y Receptor Type 2 (NPY2R) gene with obesity and metabolic syndrome has not been widely studied in the Malaysian population. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the association of NPY2R A172T gene variant with obesity, metabolic syndrome, related anthropometric measurements, glucose level, blood pressure and the demographic characteristics among Kampar Health Clinic subjects. In total, 168 subjects (68 males, 100 females; 66 obese, 102 non obese; 47 Malay, 89 Chinese, 32 Indians) were recruited in this study via convenience sampling and anthropometric measurements were taken. Genotyping was performed using HaeIII Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) revealing 121 AA, 37 AT and 10 TT subjects; minor allele frequency 0.170. NPY2R A172T genotypes and alleles did not show any association with obesity (p = 0.982; 0.857, respectively), gender (p = 0.129; 0.245, respectively) and ethnicity (p = 0.581; 0.390, respectively). Besides, they did not show any association with the presence of metabolic syndrome according to 3 criteria in the modified NCEP ATP III (p = 0.447; 0.288, respectively). In conclusion, the NPY2R A172T gene variant was not associated with obesity, obesity-related traits and metabolic syndrome among Malaysian subjects in this study.