Association of Rho/Rho-kinase gene polymorphisms and expressions with obesity-related metabolic syndrome

OBJECTIVE: The metabolic syn - drome (MetS) is a common multicomponent condition including abdominal obesity, dyslipi- demia, hypertension and hyperglycemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the associ- ations of Rho GTPase and Rho-kinase (ROCK) gene polymorphisms and expressions with MetSinaTurkishpopulation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 141 obese MetS patients and 163 healthy controls with similar age and sex were included to this study. Polymorphisms were analyzed in genom - ic DNA using a BioMark 96.96 dynamic array system. mRNA from blood samples was ex - tracted, and real-time polymerase chain reac - tionwasperformedforgeneexpressions. RESULTS: We observed that genotype (CC, 18.1%; CA, 13.4%, and AA, 68.5%) and allele (C, 24.8%; A, 75.2%) frequencies for the rs35996865 polymorphism of the ROCK1 gene in patients were markedly different from con - trols (CC, 84.2%; CA, 2.9%, and AA, 12.9%; C, 85.6%; A, 14.4%, p < 0.0001). In the rs2230774 (Thr431Asn) polymorphism of the ROCK2 gene, there were increases in the CC genotype (16.5%) and C allele frequencies (20.4%) in MetS patients when compared with the control group (CC, 6.0%, p = 0.0009, and C, 6.7%, p < 0.0001). However, no associations with the oth - er 18 polymorphisms studied were found. Al- though there were an increase in peripheral blood mRNA RhoH expressions, marked de - creases in RhoC, RhoBTB1, RhoV, Rnd1, and CDC42 gene expressions were noted in MetS patients. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to pro - vide evidence that ROCK gene polymorphisms and gene expressions of the Rho GTPase pro - teins may modify individual susceptibility to MetSintheTurkishpopulation.