Interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist gene polymorphism in normal weight obese syndrome: relationship to body composition and IL-1 alpha and beta plasma levels.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist concentration is upregulated in the plasma of patients with obese related disease, and its synthesis is under genetic control. We tested the hypothesis that the polymorphism in the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene second intron might be associated with normal weight obese syndrome. The polymorphism of intron 2 in the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene, containing a variable numbers of a tandem repeat (VNTR), and interleukin-1alpha and beta plasma levels were evaluated in 110 Caucasian Italian women, divided in three groups: non-obese, normal weight obese and preobese-obese.