Background: Medically, obesity is a condition in which there is excessive body fat accumulation that affecting health negatively. People are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI) exceeds 30 kg/m2. Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are mitochondrial proteins that disperse the inter-membrane electrochemical potential as heat.

Objectives: To examine the association between Uncoupling proteins (UCP2) gene expression and obesity.

Methods: Analysis of UCP2 gene expression, done by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) in two groups with a total of 62 participants. The 1st group included 31 obese patients and the 2nd included 31 (age-matched) healthy unrelated volunteers as a control group.

Results: A significant association of UCP2 gene expression among obese group was shown when compared with the control group (p < 0.001). There was no significant association when compared according to gender, Chi-square (X2) was 2.38 and (p=0.304). Our results showed negative significant correlation between UCP2 gene expression and BMI for obese group (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: These results suggested that the uncoupling proteins (UCP2) gene expression might play a significant role as a risk factor of obesity.