Association between Polymorphism of Oncostatin M Receptor and Obesity in Korean Population

Oncostatin M receptor (OSMR) is responsible of signal transduction of oncostatin M (OSM) that might have associations with cancer, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, but few studies have examined this association in population. Our aim was to investigate that whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the OSMR gene were associated with obesity in a Korean population. We genotyped 16 SNPs of the OSMR gene in 206 overweight/obesesubjects and 152 control subjects using the Affymetrix Targeted Genotyping chip array. One SNP (rs7709749) revealed association with overweight/obese subjects (p=0.029, log-additivemodel; p=0.042, recessive model). Furthermore, we examined the association between haplotypes built from 16 SNPs and overweight/obesity. The TC haplotype in block 2 (rs2367704 and rs647194) was also associated with overweight/obese (p=0.041). Our results suggest that the OSMR gene may be a possible risk factor in obesity.