Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Can Modulate Methylation Level of Ghrelin Gene: a 6-Month Longitudinal Study

• Published in: SN comprehensive clinical medicine 2022-09, Vol.4 (1), Article 210
• Main Authors: Wolf, Letícia Santana, Nicoletti, Carolina Ferreira, Noronha, Natália Yumi, de Souza Pinhel, Marcela Augusta, Welendorf, Caroline Rossi, Delfino, Heitor Bernardes Pereira, Salgado Junior, Wilson, Nonino, Carla Barbosa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Paper; Topical Collection on Medicine
• ISSN: 2523-8973; 2523-8973
• DOI: 10.1007/s42399-022-01288-w

Recent evidence showed that DNA methylation changes can contribute substantially to body weight regulation, as well as modulate expression of appetite and satiety genes, controlling food intake. To investigate if bariatric surgery could change the methylation levels of specific CpG sites in agouti-related peptide ( AGRP ), ghrelin ( GHRL ) and pro-opiomelanocortin ( POMC ) genes and assess potential relationships of these CpGs sites with anthropometrics changes. This prospective study enrolled 24 women (36.9 ± 10.3 years; Body Mass Index — BMI: 43.3 ± 5.7 kg/m 2 ) who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. DNA methylation levels were assessed before and after 6 months of surgery by Infinium Human Methylation 450 K Bead Chip technology. We found an increase in methylation of cg04924511 in the GHRL gene (6%, p  = 0.0025) after bariatric surgery. There was positive correlation between changes in methylation level of cg05382012 in AGRP gene and cg04924511 in GHRL gene with fat mass loss after surgery ( r  = 0.729; p