Type 2 diabetes mellitus susceptibility gene TCF7L2 is strongly associated with hyperglycemia in the Saudi Arabia Population of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia

S. Acharya, A. Al-Elq, A. Al-Nafaie, M. Muzaheed, A. Al-Ali

Prince Mohammed Centre for Research and Consultation Studies, University of Dammam, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. sabaikady@ud.edu.sa

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• Metabolism

OBJECTIVE: We studied the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7903146, rs12255372 and rs4506565 in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility gene, transcription factor 7 like 2 (TCF7L2) with T2DM among the population of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a case-control study, blood samples were collected from 359 T2DM patients and 351 age and sex-matched normoglycemic controls. Genotyping was done by allele specific PCR assay.

RESULTS: Our results revealed a strong association between risk T alleles in variants rs12255372 (OR: G/T=1.4233; T/T=2.0395) and rs4506565 (OR: A/T=1.6066; T/T=3.1301) and T2DM among the Saudi population of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that this association has been identified in a Saudi population. However, a common variant, rs7903146, often found to be associated with T2DM in other populations failed to demonstrate any association to T2DM with the present population. These data further strengthens the hypothesis that Saudi populations might carry a distinct risk allele in T2DM susceptibility gene TCF7L2.

CONCLUSIONS: The present results confirm that rs12255372 and rs4506565 variants of TCF7L2 show an association, but not rs7903146, with T2DM for the Saudi population of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

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