Our results add to the evidence that BMI related variants in and near FTO and TMEM18 may increase the risk for T2D not only through secondary effects of obesity.
Our results suggest that TMEM18 affects substrate levels through insulin and glucagon signaling, and its downregulation induces a metabolic state resembling type 2 diabetes.
Single SNP analysis showed that genetic variants in SLC30A10, TMEM18, GNPDA2, PRL, TFAP2B, BDNF, MTCH2, FTO, and MC4R were nominally associated with waist circumference (WC), BMI, and risk for abdominal or general obesity in the untreated patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as in the total group of patients with type 2 diabetes (untreated and treated) (p < 0.05).