Vif’s tendency to aggregate and become insoluble has limited its structural characterization and functional analysis

ion. SNP associations with glycaemia and insulin sensitivity SNP associations with body fat content and distribution All SNP associations with body fat measures were studied after adjustment for gender and age. In the overall cohort, the minor Aallele of SNP rs12603825 was nominally associated with an elevated percentage of body fat. AT adipose tissue; BMI body mass index; BW body weight; MRI magnetic resonance imaging; MRS magnetic resonance spectroscopy; SNP single nucleotide polymorphism; available from 1,409 participants.SERPINF1 and Adipose Tissue Mass To see whether SNP rs12603825 exerts an effect on insulin sensitivity via its effect on body adiposity, we excluded percentage of body fat as a confounder from the multiple regression analysis. In the dominant inheritance model, the minor A-allele of SNP rs12603825 was significantly associated with reduced clampderived insulin sensitivity, and this association was completely abolished after inclusion of percentage ” of body fat in the analysis. This provides evidence for an association of this SNP with insulin resistance via SB-203580 web promotion of body adiposity. , and with fasting plasma leptin concentrations. Discussion In this genetic study, we demonstrate in vivo functionality of the common SERPINF1 variant rs12603825 and its influence on overall adiposity with the minor A-allele representing the plasma PEDF- and body fat-elevating risk allele. Why we could not detect an impact of this SNP on BMI could have several reasons. One conceivable explanation could be the relatively low age of the subjects examined, as it is well-known that in young, physically active subjects BMI rather reflects muscle mass than fat mass. Another reason could be this SNP’s modest effect size on body adiposity of,8% that is presumably too small to be translated into significant changes in BMI at least in our cohort of limited sample size. Interrogation of publically available genome-wide analyses from the GIANT consortium again failed to reveal a significant association of SNP rs12603825 with BMI in approximately 250,000 subjects. The lack of association in ” this large sample could be due to confounders, such as ethnicity, environment, prediabetic status, and study methods, that were not accounted for in this study. Thus, replication of our results in larger, very well phenotyped and controlled study cohorts could help shed further light on this issue. Nevertheless, our finding, confirmed by the use of different measures of body adiposity, is in line with earlier studies showing positive associations of circulating PEDF with obesity in rodents and humans, with human type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Whether the intronic variant rs12603825 affects the function or the expression of the gene product PEDF is currently unclear, but altered SERPINF1 expression via modified transcription factor binding to the DNA sequence affected by the nucleotide exchange Functionality of SNP rs12603825 SNP rs12603825 is located in intron 3 of the SERPINF1 gene. Thus, it is supposed to affect SERPINF1 transcription rather than the function or stability of PEDF. To address whether this SNP is functional, we first analysed in silico whether the SNP alters a transcription factor binding site. Using publically available prediction software, we analysed a DNA region from 20 bp upstream to 20 bp downstream of the SNP for putative transcription factor binding sites. However, no binding sites for mammalian transcription factors could be