Abstract
Background:
The 167K allele in the TM6SF2 gene has been suggested to protect against cardiovascular disease at the cost of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adults.
Methods:
We performed a cross-sectional study in a population sample of 462 Caucasian children aged 6–9 y, genotyped the polymorphism using HumanCoreExome BeadChip, and assessed several cardiometabolic risk factors.
Results:
The 51 (11%) carriers of the 167K allele had higher plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (20.8 vs. 18.4 U/l, P = 0.011) but lower plasma triglycerides (0.54 vs. 0.61 mmol/l, P = 0.024), total cholesterol (4.08 vs. 4.30 mmol/l, P = 0.016), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (2.22 vs. 2.38 mmol/l, P = 0.012) than the 411 noncarriers. In factor analysis, the first factor was heavily loaded by plasma ALT (factor loading 0.63), triglycerides (−0.82), LDL cholesterol (−0.71), and waist circumference (0.61) in the carriers but not in the noncarriers.
Conclusions:
The carriers of the 167K allele have higher plasma ALT but lower plasma triglycerides and total and LDL cholesterol than the noncarriers already in childhood.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the personnel of the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study for performing this study.
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Viitasalo, A., Pihlajamäki, J., Paananen, J. et al. Associations of TM6SF2 167K allele with liver enzymes and lipid profile in children: the PANIC Study. Pediatr Res 79, 684–688 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2016.3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2016.3
