Address for correspondence: M. Klempt, Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Federal Research Center, Hermann-Weigmann-Strasse 1, 24103 Kiel, Germany. Fax: 0431-6092472.
klempt{at}bafm.de
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 967: 548-553 (2002).
Postprandial fat absorption is supposed to be a major factor
in the development of the metabolic syndrome. In recent years,
the assimilation of plasma triglycerides has been the focus
of several groups, revealing a number of specific fat or fatty
acid transporters. The intestinal fatty acid binding protein,
I-FABP-2, participates in the absorption of nutritional fats.
The influence of a coding polymorphism has been investigated
intensively. However, it remains still unclear whether this
polymorphism has a major impact on postprandial TG levels in
humans. We found a polymorphism in the promoter of FABP-2, which
might involve the retinoid receptor in the transcriptional activity.
In functional analysis, we have been able to demonstrate that
the various promoter alleles develop different activities in
the human intestinal epithelial cells and that the postprandial
appearance of plasma TGs in healthy subjects also depends on
their genotype. Since the distribution of the identified promoter
polymorphism does not differ in subjects suffering from type
2 diabetes, the overall influence on the development of the
metabolic syndrome seems to be minor.
