Determining of NIS gene expression in gastric tissue of morbid obese individuals

Obesity is defined as one of the most dangerous ten disease by the World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity is a global problem that can affect people of all ages. According to the WHO's records; obesity is one of the most important factors which leads diabetes, heart disease and hypertension and especially alarming in children and adults. One of the other important causes for development of obesity is the genetic background. Individuals having Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40> are defined as "morbid obese". The aim of this study is to determine the expression level of NIS gene in morbid obese individuals. NIS gene is a plasma membrane glycoprotein that mediates iodide uptake in thyroid glands, stomach, salivary glands, lactating mammary glands and intestine. NIS transports iodide from blood to gastric epithelial cells. Therefore, it is thought that the level of the NIS gene expression in stomach has a crucial role in transportation of iodide. There has been no study related with the expression of NIS gene in gastrointestinal tract and regulatory factors in morbid obese individuals. In this study, stomach tissues of 33 individuals diagnosed as morbid obese were obtained by laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Control group consisted of gastric tissue of 21 subjects with normal BMI obtained by endoscopy. After sampling, RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis and qRT-PCR analyses were performed. When NIS gene expression was compared between patient and control group, although an increase was observed in morbid obese patients this difference was not found to be statistically important (p>0.05). Key words: Obesity, NIS, Gene Expression