Overall analyses indicated that UII gene rs228648 variant was significantly associated with reduced risk of DM (allele, A vs. G: OR = 0.68, 95%CI = 0.56-0.82; dominant, AA+GA vs. GG: OR = 0.70, 95%CI = 0.53-0.91; homozygote, AA vs. GG: OR = 0.41, 95%CI = 0.28-0.61; recessive, AA vs. GA+GG: OR = 0.36, 95%CI = 0.19-0.71).
Thr21Met (T21M) and Ser89Asn (S89N) polymorphisms of the UTS2 gene were associated with the risk of developing diabetes and DR. M21M genotype frequencies were high in PDR (8.9% in diabetic control vs. 54.6% in PDR, P = 0.0092) group.
Our results are compatible with a role for UII in glucose homeostasis and diabetes although we cannot rule out the possibility that PER3 gene may underlie the reported associations.
We surveyed SNPs in the UTS2 gene in 152 Japanese subjects with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and two control Japanese cohorts: one consisting of 122 elderly subjects who met stringent criteria for being non-diabetic, including being older than 60 years of age with no evidence of diabetes (HbA(1c)<5.6%), and another 268 subjects with normal glucose tolerance.