Abstract
According to the Sasang theory, humans can be categorized into one of the four Sasang constitution (SC) types. The four SC types are Tae-Yang (TY), Tae-Eum (TE), So-Yang (SY), and So-Eum (SE), which are determined mainly on the basis of anthropometric characteristics, personality, and the balance of the physiological functions of the major organ systems. There is a growing recognition in the complementary and alternative medicine area that SC types have the potential to be a useful scientific tool for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases (Cooper, Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vol. 6 (Suppl. 1), 2009, pp. 1-3). The main purposes of the present study are to estimate genetic and environmental influences on SC types, and to explore genetic and environmental correlations that affect phenotypic associations among the SC types. In total, 1,742 (365 monozygotic male, 173 dizygotic male, 675 monozygotic female, 271 dizygotic female, and 258 opposite-sex dizygotic) twins (mean age = 19.1 ± 3.1 year) completed a Sasang questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate model-fitting analyses were performed. Total (additive and non-additive) genetic influences were 71% for males and 81% for females in TE, 70% for males and 71% for females in SE, and 47% for both sexes in SY. Non-additive genetic effects were substantial, and shared environmental influences were negligible in most SC types. Multivariate model-fitting analysis revealed that non-additive genetic and individual-specific environmental correlations between TE and SE were -0.92 (95% CI [-0.89, -0.93]) and -0.62 (95% CI [-0.57, -0.68]), respectively. The corresponding estimates were -0.55 (95% CI [-0.48, -0.61]) and -0.44 (95% CI [-0.37, -0.51]) between TE and SY and 0.19 (95% CI [0.09, 0.29]) and -0.40 (95% CI [-0.32, -0.47]) between SE and SY. These results suggest that the phenotypic associations among SC types may be mediated by pleiotropic mechanism of genes.
Highlights
Major Characteristics, and an Informal Review of Studies of Prevalence of Diseases and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of TY, TE, SY, and SE Published in English in Peer-Reviewed Journals
Song et al (2012) found that serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and higher triglyceride levels were higher in TE than in other constitution types, suggesting that higher prevalence in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in TE may be due in part to elevated lipid traits for the TE type
They further noted that neuron-related genes such as GPM6A, SYT4, GRIK1, LPP9, and CACNA1A were significantly associated with TE; cell-signaling genes, AKAP11, PTPN2, and NRP2 were associated with SE; and that 17 other genes, including ZFP42, CDH22, ALDH1A2, OTX2, and EN2 were associated with SY
Summary
Major Characteristics, and an Informal Review of Studies of Prevalence of Diseases and GWAS of TY, TE, SY, and SE Published in English in Peer-Reviewed Journals. Cha et al (2015) found in a GWAS (N = 3,810) that the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) variant (rs7193144) was significantly inversely related to the SE type after adjusting for body mass index (BMI). This finding was replicated in an independent sample (N = 1,680; Cha et al, 2015). Using a sample of over 5,000 South Koreans, Kim et al (2017) performed a GWAS and reported that two gene loci, APOC1 on chromosome 19 and C2orf were significantly associated with the ratio of LDL and HDL cholesterol only in the TE but not in the non-TE types.
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