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The association of dietary and plasma fatty acid composition with FTO gene expression in human visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues

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Abstract

Purpose

The human obesity susceptibility gene, FTO, associates with body mass and obesity in humans through regulation of energy expenditure and intake. We aimed to determine how fatty acids in plasma and in diet associate with FTO gene expression in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissues.

Methods

In this study, 97 participants aged ≥ 18 years were selected from patients admitted to the hospital for abdominal surgeries. Habitual dietary intake of participants was collected using a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), from which the intake of fatty acids was quantified. Plasma fatty acids were assessed by gas–liquid chromatography. The mRNA expression of the FTO gene in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues obtained by biopsy was measured by Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR. Standardized β-coefficients were calculated by multivariable linear regression.

Results

After adjusting for age, homeostasis model insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), and body mass index, total fatty acid intake was significantly associated with FTO gene expression in visceral (STZβ = 0.208, P = 0.037) and subcutaneous (STZβ = 0.236, P = 0.020) adipose tissues. Dietary intake of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had positive significant associations with the expression of FTO in visceral (STZβ = 0.227, P = 0.023; STZβ = 0.346, P < 0.001, respectively) and subcutaneous (STZβ = 0.227, P = 0.026; STZβ = 0.274, P = 0.006, respectively) adipose tissues. There were no associations between plasma fatty acids and FTO mRNA expression in either subcutaneous or visceral adipose tissues.

Conclusion

The weak association of dietary total fatty acids, MUFA, and PUFA with FTO gene expression in both adipose tissues may highlight the importance of dietary fatty acids composition along with total fat intake in relation to FTO gene expression.

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Data availability

The data set is the property of Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences (RIES) and is made available upon approval of the research proposal by the research council and the ethics committee. The RIES ethics committee must issue an approval in case of a request for access to the de-identified dataset. Data request may be sent to the head of the RIES Ethics Committee Dr. Azita Zadeh-Vakili at email: azitavakili@endocrine.ac.ir.

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Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to the participants of the study for their enthusiastic support and to the staff of the involved hospitals for their valuable help.

Funding

This work was funded by a Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Emad Yuzbashian, Golaleh Asghari & Parvin Mirmiran

  2. Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box: 19395-4763, Tehran, Iran

    Golaleh Asghari & Parvin Mirmiran

  3. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Catherine B. Chan

  4. Cellular and Molecular Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box: 19395-4763, Tehran, Iran

    Mehdi Hedayati & Maryam Zarkesh

  5. Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohammad Safarian

  6. Department of Surgery, Tehran Obesity Treatment Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Khalaj

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  1. Emad Yuzbashian
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Contributions

EY conceptualized and designed the study, gathered adipose tissue, performed RNA extraction and Real-Time qRT-PCR, analyzed and interpreted the data, prepared the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. GA entered data, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. CBC critically revised the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. MS performed gas-chromatography for fatty acid concentration and approved the final manuscript as submitted. MH supervised the project, consulted lab protocol, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. MZ prepared the lab materials; cDNA synthesized, prepared the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. PM drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. AK biopsied the patients during the abdominal surgery and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Parvin Mirmiran.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author hereby declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethics approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences (RIES) of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (NO: IR.SBMU.ENDOCRINE.REC.1396.483) and the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and RIES institutional guidelines. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Yuzbashian, E., Asghari, G., Chan, C.B. et al. The association of dietary and plasma fatty acid composition with FTO gene expression in human visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues. Eur J Nutr 60, 2485–2494 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-020-02422-x

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