Approved Research

Rare MC4R pathway variants in early onset obesity and hyperphagia

Lay summary

The system that controls when and how much we eat is complex and involves signals being sent from the gut to the brain to make us feel full and stop eating or increase our appetite and feel hunger. This system is controlled by a number of genes that we know of because of data from mouse models and large family pedigrees where mutations have been identified. However, this gene network is large and we don't know enough about the genetics of most of the genes to say if, and how, they contribute to weight management in humans. This project will address some of these questions using the large amounts of data collected by the UKB.