Association of the UCP2 –866G/A polymorphism with type 2 diabetes and obesity in Saudi population

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is emerging as a major public health problem allover the world particularly Saudi Arabia. Recent studies reported that Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2) was associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Aim of the Study: This study was conducted to clarify the contribution of
polymorphism in UCP2 in obesity and T2D in the Saudi population.
Subjects and Methods: The distribution of the –866G/A polymorphism was
examined in a case-control study including samples from 110 obese patients, 81 T2D patients, 96 obese-T2D patients and 100 healthy unrelated Saudi subjects.
The –866G/A polymorphism were determined by using PCR/RFLP (polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism) techniques.
Results: The results of this study showed that the frequency of the GG genotype was significantly higher in both obese and T2D patients (p-value= 0.0001, p-value= 0.014, respectively) compared with healthy control. The G allele was significantly associated with increase risk of obesity (odd ratio, OR: 3.3; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.37-7.98), but not with T2D (OR, 1.97; Cl, 0.80-4.87). In obese-T2D patients group, no significant correlation with –866G/A polymorphism (p= 0.067; OR, 1.21; Cl, 0.25-2.80). This unreeled study suggested that the G allele of UCP2 –866G/A polymorphism was related to obesity, which indicated the possible role of this polymorphism in causing metabolic syndrome.
Conclusion: This study concluded that the G allele of UCP2 –866G/A polymorphism might be related to obesity and T2D which might be used as a predictive marker for obesity and T2D.

Key Words: T2D, Obesity, Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) gene, –866G/A polymorphism, Saudi population.