Inverse association between obesity predisposing FTO genotype and completed suicide

PLoS One. 2014 Sep 29;9(9):e108900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108900. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The A allele of rs9939609 in the FTO gene predisposes to increased body mass index (BMI) and obesity. Recently we showed an inverse association between the obesity related A allele of rs9939609 and alcohol dependence which was replicated by others. Since this finding raises a possibility that FTO may be associated with other psychiatric phenotypes, we aimed to examine association of rs9939609 with completed suicide. We genotyped rs9939609 in 912 suicide victims and 733 controls using TaqMan approach. We observed an inverse association between suicide and the rs9939609 A allele (OR = 0.80, P = 0.002, Pcor = 0.006) with genotype distribution suggesting a co-dominant effect. Given the link between alcoholism and suicide under influence of alcohol reported in Polish population, confounding by alcohol addiction was unlikely due to apparently similar effect size among cases who were under influence of ethanol at the time of death (OR = 0.76, P = 0.003, N = 361) and those who were not (OR = 0.80, P = 0.007, N = 469). The search for genotype-phenotype correlations did not show significant results. In conclusion, our study proves that there is an inverse association between rs9939609 polymorphism in FTO gene and completed suicide which is independent from association between FTO and alcohol addiction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alcoholism / complications
  • Alcoholism / genetics
  • Alleles
  • Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO
  • Female
  • Genetic Association Studies*
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Obesity / complications
  • Obesity / genetics*
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Proteins / genetics*
  • Suicide*

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO
  • FTO protein, human

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the following grants from the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland: 1WY/N/2012 and 1WY/N/2013. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.