Identification of KSR2 Variants in Pediatric Patients with Severe Early-Onset Obesity from Qatar

The kinase suppressor of Ras 2 ( ) gene is associated with monogenic obesity, and loss-of-function variants in have been identified in individuals with severe early-onset obesity. This study investigated variants in 9 pediatric patients with severe early-onset obesity in Qatar using whole genome sequencing among a cohort of 240 individuals. We focused on variants with a minor allele frequency (MAF) below 1% and a Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion (CADD) score above 13 to identify potential causative variants. Our analysis identified four variants: one intronic (c.1765-8G>A) and three missense variants (c.1057G>A, c.1673G>A, and c.923T>C) in nine patients. The intronic variant c.1765-8G>A was the most frequent (seen in six individuals) and had a CADD score of 21.10, suggesting possible pathogenicity. This variant showed a significantly higher allele frequency in the Qatari population compared to the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD), indicating a possible founder effect. Molecular modeling of the missense variants revealed structural changes in the protein structure. The study concludes that these four variants are associated with monogenic obesity, with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. The c.1765-8G>A variant's prevalence in Qatar underscores its importance in genetic screening for severe obesity. This research advances the understanding of genetic factors in severe early-onset obesity and may inform better management strategies.