Relationship of FTO gene variations with NAFLD risk in Chinese men

Fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene is an obesity susceptibility gene and its relationship with the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the relationships of FTO gene variations with NAFLD risk in a Chinese male population.

A 1:2 matched case-control study was performed on 275 cases of NAFLD and 550 controls matched for age. Nine of the FTO gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped.

Logistic regression analysis found that FTO rs1477196 was significantly associated with the susceptibility to NAFLD in recessive genetic models [unadjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22-5.19, P = 0.012] and the relativity weakened after further adjustment for body mass index (BMI), uric acid, metabolic syndrome, smoking, and drinking (adjusted OR = 2.18, 95% CI: 0.96-4.99, P = 0.06). In the obese group, the AA + AG genotypes of rs1121980 and rs9940128 were associated with a decreased risk of NAFLD, when compared with the GG genotype, respectively (rs1121980: adjusted OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.39-0.99, P = 0.044; rs9940128: adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.38-0.97, P = 0.038). Furthermore, rs1477196 was associated with the severity of NAFLD (OR = 2.95, 95% CI = 1.09-7.94, P = 0.034).

Our results demonstrated that the FTO gene was related to the presence and severity of NAFLD in a Chinese male population, and the relationships of the tested SNPs with NAFLD are most probably mediated by BMI.