Association of Pro12Ala Polymorphism of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma 2 (PPARγ2) Gene with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Ethnic Kashmiri Population

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia associated with insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. T2DM is believed to be attributable to the combined effect of genetic and environmental factors. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPAR gamma 2) is one of the main candidate genes that are implicated in T2DM. A common proline 12 alanine (Pro12Ala) polymorphism in PPAR gamma 2 has been shown to be associated with T2DM. The aim of this work was to investigate the possible role of PPAR gamma 2 gene polymorphism, as a genetic risk factor for T2DM. The study comprised 200 ethnic unrelated subjects (100 T2DM patients and 100 controls). PCR-RFLP technique was used for genotyping analysis. The frequency of the Pro allele was 79 and 91.5 % for controls and cases, respectively (P < 0.05; OR 3.2; 95 % CI 1.64-6.3). The Pro12Ala polymorphism was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in both patients and controls (chi(2) = 0.13, P > 0.05). We found a significant association of Pro12Ala polymorphism of PPAR gamma 2 gene with T2DM, however the genotypes showed statistically significant association only with few clinical parameters including body mass index, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (P\ 0.05). The study signifies that Pro allele in PPAR gamma 2 may be a genotypic risk factor that confers susceptibility to T2DM in ethnic Kashmiri population.