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Longitudinal weight differences, gene expression and blood biomarkers in BMI-discordant identical twins.

ABSTRACT: Body mass index (BMI) discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins allow an examination of the causes and consequences of adiposity in a genetically controlled design. Few studies have examined longitudinal BMI discordance in MZ pairs.The aim of this work was to study the development over time of BMI discordance in adolescent and adult MZ twin pairs and to examine lifestyle, metabolic, inflammatory and gene expression differences associated with concurrent and long-term BMI discordance in MZ pairs.BMI data from 2775 MZ twin pairs, collected in eight longitudinal surveys and a biobank project between 1991 and 2011, were analyzed to characterize longitudinal discordance. Lifestyle characteristics were compared within discordant pairs (?BMI?3?kg?m(-2)) and biomarkers (lipids, glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor-? and soluble IL-6 receptor and liver enzymes aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and gamma glutamyl transferase) and gene expression were compared in peripheral blood from discordant pairs who participated in the Netherlands Twin Register biobank project.The prevalence of discordance ranged from 3.2% in 1991 (mean age=17, s.d.=2.4) to 17.4% (N=202 pairs) in 2009 (mean age=35, s.d.=15) and was 16.5% (N=174) among pairs participating in the biobank project (mean age=35, s.d.=12). Of the 699 MZ pairs with BMI data from 3 to 5 time points, 17 pairs (2.4%) were long-term discordant (at all available time points; mean follow-up range=6.4 years). Concurrently discordant pairs showed significant differences in self-ratings of which twin eats most (P=2.3 × 10(-13)) but not in leisure time exercise activity (P=0.28) and smoking (P>0.05). Ten out of the 14 biomarkers showed significantly more unfavorable levels in the heavier of twin of the discordant pairs (P-values <0.001); most of these biomarker differences were largest in longitudinally discordant pairs. No significant gene expression differences were identified, although high ranking genes were enriched for Gene Ontology terms highlighting metabolic gene regulation and inflammation pathways.BMI discordance is uncommon in adolescent identical pairs but increases with higher pair-mean of BMI at older ages, although long-term BMI discordance is rare. In discordant pairs, the heavier twin had a more unfavorable blood biomarker profile than the genetically matched leaner twin, in support of causal effects of obesity.

SUBMITTER: van Dongen J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4471109 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Longitudinal weight differences, gene expression and blood biomarkers in BMI-discordant identical twins.

van Dongen J J Willemsen G G Heijmans B T BT Neuteboom J J Kluft C C Jansen R R Penninx B W J BW Slagboom P E PE de Geus E J C EJ Boomsma D I DI

International journal of obesity (2005) 20150313 6

<h4>Background</h4>Body mass index (BMI) discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins allow an examination of the causes and consequences of adiposity in a genetically controlled design. Few studies have examined longitudinal BMI discordance in MZ pairs.<h4>Objectives</h4>The aim of this work was to study the development over time of BMI discordance in adolescent and adult MZ twin pairs and to examine lifestyle, metabolic, inflammatory and gene expression differences associated with concurrent and long-ter ...[more]

PMID: 25765203

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Project description:Background:A gap exists in our mechanistic understanding of how genetic and environmental risk factors converge at the molecular level to result in the emergence of autism symptoms. We compared blood-based gene expression signatures in identical twins concordant and discordant for autism spectrum condition (ASC) to differentiate genetic and environmentally driven transcription differences, and establish convergent evidence for biological mechanisms involved in ASC. Methods:Genome-wide gene expression data were generated using RNA-seq on whole blood samples taken from 16 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) twins and seven twin pair members (39 individuals in total), who had been assessed for ASC and autism traits at age 12. Differential expression (DE) analyses were performed between (a) affected and unaffected subjects (N?=?36) and (b) within discordant ASC MZ twin pairs (total N?=?11) to identify environmental-driven DE. Gene set enrichment and pathway testing was performed on DE gene lists. Finally, an integrative analysis using DNA methylation data aimed to identify genes with consistent evidence for altered regulation in cis. Results:In the discordant twin analysis, three genes showed evidence for DE at FDR?<?10%: IGHG4, EVI2A and SNORD15B. In the case-control analysis, four DE genes were identified at FDR?<?10% including IGHG4, PRR13P5, DEPDC1B, and ZNF501. We find enrichment for DE of genes curated in the SFARI human gene database. Pathways showing evidence of enrichment included those related to immune cell signalling and immune response, transcriptional control and cell cycle/proliferation. Integrative methylomic and transcriptomic analysis identified a number of genes showing suggestive evidence for cis dysregulation. Limitations:Identical twins stably discordant for ASC are rare, and as such the sample size was limited and constrained to the use of peripheral blood tissue for transcriptomic and methylomic profiling. Given these primary limitations, we focused on transcript-level analysis. Conclusions:Using a cohort of ASC discordant and concordant MZ twins, we add to the growing body of transcriptomic-based evidence for an immune-based component in the molecular aetiology of ASC. Whilst the sample size was limited, the study demonstrates the utility of the discordant MZ twin design combined with multi-omics integration for maximising the potential to identify disease-associated molecular signals.

Dataset Information

Longitudinal weight differences, gene expression and blood biomarkers in BMI-discordant identical twins.

Publications

Longitudinal weight differences, gene expression and blood biomarkers in BMI-discordant identical twins.

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