Association of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) expression and obesity: A systematized review

Several studies have associated glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) overexpression with obesity due to its roles in proinflammatory signalling. However, a systematic review has not been reported to synthesize and evaluate the findings. This is a systematized, scoping review on the recent 10-year publications for all species, and all-time studies in humans on the associations of G6PD with obesity. Systematized electronic searches on Pubmed and Medline for all studies from April 2011 to April 2021 were performed; Pubmed was searched for all human studies. The eighteen human studies since the 1960s to date reported ambiguous, conflicting outcomes on the association of G6PD expression and weight regulation. Over the last ten years, however, the ten included reports for all species, which were primarily mice studies, all suggested that G6PD activity or level is increased in the obese. In the same way, G6PD deficiency has been linked with insulin resistance amelioration and weight gain reduction due to opposing mechanisms. In line with this, four of the included studies were diet inclusion or pharmacotherapeutic interventions to suppress G6PD activity, hence weight gain and obesity. Further investigations, particularly on pharmacotherapeutic applications on the roles of G6PD on obesity are needed.