Association between a marker in the UCP-2/UCP-3gene cluster and genetic susceptibility to anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an enigmatic syndrome affecting approximately 0.1% of the at risk population in the UK which equates to approximately 70 000 sufferers. Data from a number of studies have demonstrated the heritability of this disorder, however it is only in the last few years that studies have begun to determine the involvement of particular candidate genes in this genetic predisposition. In the current study we have used classical case-control association analysis to determine whether two highly polymorphic microsatellite markers, located within a 3-cM region of the UCP-2/UCP-3 locus, show involvement of this region of the human genome in the predisposition to AN. Analysis of a cohort of 170 female Caucasian anorexia nervosa sufferers and 150 normal female controls shows evidence of association with the marker D11S911 but not D11S916. Allele 13 of the marker D11S911 is significantly over represented in the anorexia nervosa population suggesting that a mutation in linkage disequilibrium with this locus may form part of the genetic component of AN. Further work is now required to try to reproduce these data in a second independent cohort and to further characterise this region of the human genome.