A Variant in ADIPOR2 Is Associated with Increased Free Fatty Acid Levels in Chinese Population

Elevated free fatty acids (FFAs) are thought to play an important role in the development of insulin resistance. Adiponectin is an adipose tissue-secreted protein known for its effects on the stimulation of fatty acid oxidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of adiponectin receptor 2 gene variations with FFAs levels in subjects with normal fasting glucose levels in Chinese Han population.

Four common single nucleotide polymorphisms of ADIPOR2 were genotyped using the TaqMan method to perform association studies with metabolic parameters in 1819 subjects among Chinese Han population. All the subjects were divided into two groups: normal FFAs group (FFAs ≤0.88 mmol/L) and high FFAs group (FFAs >0.88 mmol/L).

There was a significant association of rs2370055 with higher FFA levels in major T-allele carriers (P = 0.000). There was a significant difference in the distribution of genotypes of polymorphism rs2370055 between normal and high FFA groups. The frequencies of TT and CT genotypes are significantly higher in subjects with high FFA level than those in the normal FFAs group (P = 0.013 and P = 0.004, respectively). After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoproteincholesterol, the TT and CT genotypes are both independent risk factors for high FFAs level.

Our findings suggest that variants of ADIPOR2 could be a determinant for higher FFA levels, and among Chinese Han population, carriers of the CT and TT genotypes for rs2370055 even with normal glucose levels may have significantly higher insulin resistance susceptibility.