Genes Foretell Weight Loss After Surgery
Weight loss after gastric bypass surgery correlated significantly with a genetic variant tracked to chromosome 15, according to a study involving more than 1,000 patients. Patients with a single copy of the minor allele known as rs17702901 had about 13% less weight loss compared with individuals who had no copies of the allele. Postoperative expression of the gene nearest to rs17702901 also correlated with weight loss. None of 21 other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or nearby genes had significant associations with weight loss after surgery, Lee M. Kaplan, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, and co-authors reported online in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "We have identified a genetic locus that is reproducibly associated with weight loss after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB)," the authors concluded. "This study provides evidence for the use of genomics to identify response to surgical procedures (surgicogenomics). "Comparison of gene...