BACKGROUND

Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a profibrotic cytokine suspected to be a crucial factor underlying glomerulosclerosis in advanced diabetic nephropathy. However, its potential role as a susceptibility gene for the development of this microvascular complication is unresolved.

METHODS

We examined whether DNA sequence variants in the TGF-beta1 gene are associated with advanced diabetic nephropathy among Caucasians with type 1 diabetes mellitus. These variants included three coding (Leu10Pro, Arg25Pro, and Thr263Ile) and two noncoding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (-800 and -509), as well as an insertion/deletion of a cytosine residue in intron 4. A large case-control study design was used in which cases were patients with type 1 diabetes with advanced diabetic nephropathy (presence of persistent proteinuria or end-stage renal disease [ESRD]; n = 298) and controls were patients who remained normoalbuminuric despite greater than 15 years of type 1 diabetes (n = 263).

RESULTS

Genotype frequencies for all polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genotype distributions of all six DNA sequence variants were very similar between cases and controls (P = not significant). There was no significant difference in genotype distributions among cases regardless of whether these individuals with diabetes were proteinuric at the time of examination or had already developed ESRD secondary to diabetic nephropathy. Stratified analyses according to diabetes duration and glycemic control likewise did not detect an association between DNA sequence variants and advanced diabetic nephropathy.

CONCLUSION

Genetic variation at the TGF-beta1 locus is unlikely to confer significant susceptibility to advanced diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.