Screening of non-syndromic early-onset child and adolescent obese patients in terms of LEP, LEPR, MC4R and POMC gene variants by next-generation sequencing

Objectives Non-syndromic monogenic obesity is a rare cause of early-onset severe obesity in the childhood period. The aim of this study was to screen four obesity related genes (LEP, LEPR, MC4R and POMC) in children and adolescents who had severe, non-syndromic early onset obesity. Methods Next-generation sequencing of all exons in LEP, LEPR, MC4R and POMC was performed in 154 children and adolescents with early onset severe obesity obesity. Results Fifteen different variants in nineteen patients were identified with a variant detection rate of 12.3%. While six different heterozygous variants were observed in MC4R gene (10/154 patients; 6.5%), five different variants in POMC gene (four of them were heterozygous and one of them was homozygous) (6/154 patients; 3.9%) and four different homozygous variants in LEPR gene (3/154 patients; 1.9%) were described. However, no variants were detected in the LEP gene. The most common pathogenic variant was c.496G>A in MC4R gene, which was detected in four unrelated patients. Six novel variants (6/15 variants; 40%) were described in seven patients. Four of them including c.233C>A and c.752T>C in MC4R gene and c.761dup and c.1221dup in LEPR gene were evaluated as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. Conclusions In conclusion, MC4R variants are the most common genetic cause of monogenic early-onset obesity, consistent with the literature. The c.496G>A variant in MC4R gene is highly prevalent in early-onset obese patients.

Automated summary

This study screened four obesity related genes (LEP, LEPR, MC4R and POMC) in children and adolescents with severe, non-syndromic early onset obesity. The results showed that MC4R variants are the most common genetic cause of monogenic early-onset obesity, with the c.496G>A variant in MC4R gene being highly prevalent.