Replication of Established Common Genetic Variants for Adult BMI and Childhood Obesity in Greek Adolescents: The TEENAGE Study

Multiple genetic loci have been associated with body mass index (BMI) and obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of established adult BMI and childhood obesity loci in a Greek adolescent cohort. For this purpose, 34 variants were selected for investigation in 707 (55.9% females) adolescents of Greek origin aged 13.42 ± 0.88 years. Cumulative effects of variants were assessed by calculating a genetic risk score (GRS-34) for each subject. Variants at the FTO, TMEM18, FAIM2, RBJ, ZNF608 and QPCTL loci yielded nominal evidence for association with BMI and/or overweight risk (p < 0.05). Variants at TFAP2B and NEGR1 loci showed nominal association (p < 0.05) with BMI and/or overweight risk in males and females respectively. Even though we did not detect any genome-wide significant associations, 27 out of 34 variants yielded directionally consistent effects with those reported by large-scale meta-analyses (binomial sign p = 0.0008). The GRS-34 was associated with both BMI (beta = 0.17 kg/m²/allele; p < 0.001) and overweight risk (OR = 1.09/allele; 95% CI: 1.04-1.16; p = 0.001). In conclusion, we replicate associations of established BMI and childhood obesity variants in a Greek adolescent cohort and confirm directionally consistent effects for most of them.