Frequency of the exon 3-deleted/full-length growth hormone receptor polymorphism in Saudi Arabian population

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the frequency of the growth hormone receptor (GHR)-d3 polymorphism in a random sample of Saudi Arabian population from Jazan province, and test the effects of the polymorphism on some anthropometric factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional population-based study was conducted during the period from January to April 2017 at the College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jazan University, Southwestern Saudi Arabia. A total of 230 healthy adult male and female volunteers were randomly recruited. Genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood, and the GHR exon 3 locus was genotyped using multiplex polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The distributions of the GHR genotypes were as follows: fl/fl (39.1%), fl/d3 (44.8%), and d3/d3 (16.1%). No statistically significant differences were found between fl/fl, fl/d3, or d3/d3 GHR genotypes in terms of weight (p=0.90), height (p=0.12), or body mass index (BMI) (p=0.83) values. CONCLUSION: No correlations were found between the GHR-d3 polymorphism and weight, height, or BMI.