Teragen Bio Identifies Gene Mutation Increasing Risk of Metabolic Diseases

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] A genetic variant that can explain the difference between metabolically risky individuals with a lean body type and healthy individuals who are obese has been discovered by a domestic research team.

Teragen Bio (CEO Hwang Tae-soon) announced on the 3rd that, in collaboration with the research team of Professors Lee Ji-won and Park Jae-min from the Department of Family Medicine at Yonsei University Gangnam Severance Hospital, they identified genetic variants related to metabolic diseases.

The research team analyzed cohort data established through the "Korean Genome Epidemiology Project" by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health. They divided 49,915 adult men and women aged 40 to 79 who participated in the survey into four groups based on weight (normal weight/obese) and metabolic risk factors (fewer than 2/2 or more), and conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS).

As a result, genetic variants were observed in nine gene regions including GCKR in the group with normal weight but two or more metabolic risk factors. Additionally, three gene variants including LPL were observed in the group that was obese with two or more risk factors.

In conclusion, regardless of weight, variants in the LPL, APOA5, and CETP gene regions may indicate metabolic unhealthiness, and even with normal weight, variants in the GCKR, ABCB11, CDKAL1, CDKN2B, NT5C2, and APOC1 genes were analyzed to be associated with metabolic risk.

Professor Lee Ji-won, who conducted the study, stated, "Further research is needed to determine whether metabolic risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol cause genetic variants, or if genetic variants increase these risk factors." She added, "The genetic differences between people with normal weight but metabolic risk and those who are obese but have low metabolic disease risk could be used as personalized treatment targets for preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular diseases in the future."

A representative from Teragen Bio said, "The genetic variants discovered this time are included in DTC (direct-to-consumer) genetic tests and will be immediately applied to our services such as 'Genestyle'." They added, "We will also conduct additional functional verification studies to utilize them in new drug development in the future."

This study was conducted as part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's project "Development of User-Participatory Big Data-Based Health Risk Prediction and Management Services," and was published in the latest issue of 'Scientific Reports,' a sister journal of the international journal 'Nature.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.