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¹ University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine, Box 232, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
² University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Box 232, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
³ University of Cambridge, Public Health and Primary Care, Box 232, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
⁴ CVGI Discovery, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK
⁵ Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to S O’Rahilly; Email: sorahill{at}hgmp.mrc.ac.uk)

Central administration of neuromedin U (NMU) suppresses food intake acting through the NMU-2 receptor (NMU2R), which is expressed in the hypothalamus. We screened the NMU2R gene in 96 patients with severe early-onset obesity. A common variant haplotype was found (f-0.21). This common variant haplotype was unusual in nature, consisting of four non-contiguous missense changes in complete linkage disequilibrium, and across two separate exons. The variant haplotype resulted in four amino acid substitutions (S295T/F312L/P380L/ M385 V) and was present in several other Europid populations and in subjects of South Asian, East Asian and African American origin, but not in eleven African Pygmies. This variant haplotype was not associated with obesity or related traits in 500 subjects from a prospective population-based cohort.

In summary, we have identified two markedly different isoforms of the NMU-2 receptor, presumably arising through an ancient and complex mutational event; no genetic associations between this haplotype and obesity-related traits were, however, discerned. Further investigation of the pharmacogenomic consequences of NMU2R variation in humans is warranted.

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