Study of TCF7L2 gene polymorphism (rs7903146)‎ in type two diabetes mellitus of Iraqi Society

Abstract EN

Background: In Iraq, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing and accounts for a high proportion of medical costs.

Recent genetic studies have shown polymorphism within the transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) genes like rs7903146 were associated with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and these polymorphisms can cause variations in body mass index (BMI) , lipid profile and insulin sensitivity.

Objectives: To study the association TCF7L2 gene (rs7903146) polymorphism with T2DM in Iraqi society.

Methodology: The study included 100 patients with T2DM referring to clinic and 80 healthy controls randomly selected based on WHO guidelines.

BMI, FBS, lipid profile and insulin plasma levels were measured, DNA was extracted from blood and genotyped by PCR–RFLP with specific primers to amplify a fragment for digestion with restriction enzyme (RsaI).

Multinomial logistic regression was applied to compare the proportions of genotypes or alleles.

The odds ratio for risk of developing T2DM was calculated with and without adjustment for age, sex, and BMI.

Results: homozygous (TT) and heterozygous genotypes (CT) had failed to significantly increase the risk of T2DM when compared to the wild type (CC).

In the same way genotypes of rs7903146 polymorphism exhibit no significant impact on BMI, lipid profile and insulin sensitivity.

Conclusion: TCF7L2 gene polymorphism (rs7903146) was not a risk factor for the development of T2DM in Iraqi society.

Recommendation: Including of a large sample size, analyzing of more SNPs ofTCF7L2 and evaluating gene expression in the future studies.