Background: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2 (PPARγ2) is a important regulator of adipocyte differentiation and modulator of intracellular insulin-signalling events. There have been several reports on the relationship between the PPARγ2 Pro12Ala genotype and obesity. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between this polymorphism and obesity or fat distribution in Korean obese patients.
Methods: The study groups consisted to 85 obese subjects (BMI≥30 kg/m2) and 91 normal weight subjects (BMI 18.5～24.9 kg/m2). Screening for mutation at codon 12 of PPARγ2 were carried out by PCR-RFLP analyses. Serum lipid and blood glucose were measured by an autoanalyzer. BMI, WHR, visceral fat amount, subscutaneous fat, VSR, and total body fat percent measured for obesity phenotypes.
Results: The allele frequencies of the Pro12Ala PPARγ2 variant were 0.038 in normal weight subjects, 0.054 in obese subjects. The overall genotype distributions did not deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. After adjustment for age and sex, significant difference was found in BMI between wild type and heterozygote of the Pro12Ala in obese group (p=0.046). In normal weight subjects, subjects with Pro12Ala genotype had increased subcutaneous fat amount compared with subjects with Pro12Pro genotype (p=0.028). There were no significant relationship between dyslipidemia and PPARγ2 Pro12Ala genotype in both group.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPARγ2 gene may be associated with obesity and fat distribution in Korean.

Keywords: PPARγ2, Pro12Ala, Obesity, Fat distribution