NAFLD SUSCEPTIBILITY GENES AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES AND OBESITY IN A NEW MEXICO POPULATION

Objective: Genome-wide association studies have identified many single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that increase the risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). One purpose of this study was to determine the frequencies of NAFLD susceptibility SNPs in a non-Hispanic white and Hispanic population in New Mexico (NM). Another goal was to determine associations with selected indicators in a NM population. Methods: 8 SNPs within 6 NAFLD susceptibility genes including PNPLA3 (rs738409), LYPLAL1 (rs12137855), APOC3 (rs2854116, rs2854117), GCKR (rs780094, rs741038), FABP2 (rs1799883), PEMT (rs7946) were genotyped for 168 subjects in the NM population. Results: The NAFLD allele frequencies in this cohort were similar in non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics except for PNPLA3 (rs738409), FABP2 (rs1799883), and PEMT (rs7946). A total of 8 SNPs in 5 NAFLD susceptibility genes were significantly or marginally associated with selectedindicators for NAFLD, metabolic syndrome, overweight, obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia. No SNPs were found to be significantly associated with the same indicator in both the non-Hispanic white and Hispanic groups. Conclusions: In this population of non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, there were only heterozygotes for the APOC3 derived alle le whereas for all other genes tested, both heterozygotes and homozygotes were found. Associations of alleles with indicators of chronic disease were different in non-Hispanic whites compared to Hispanics.