Endocrine Abstracts

Obesity is a polymorphic chronic disease with epidemic prevalence. Furthermore, heritability of the weight phenotype is high. However, within the catabolic leptin–melanocortin signalling pathway, which is pivotal for body weight regulation, gene mutations are rare. This indicates that other, non-genetic heritable factors might play a role in the development of obesity, such as epigenetic mechanisms.In a candidate gene approach, we analyzed the funct...