Tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PPAR-γ and RXR-α gene and type 2 diabetes risk: a case-control study of a Chinese Han population.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-γ),which is mainly involved in adipocyte differentiation, has been suggested to play an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. We investigated the frequencies of two common tagging polymorphisms of the PPAR-γ gene and two of PPAR-α with minor allele frequency (MAF) ≥0.05 in the Chinese Han population and analyzed the correlation between the different genotypes and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). TaqMan® assay was performed to test the genotypes in T2DM patients (n = 1,105) and normal controls (n = 1,107). Serum adiponectin concentration was measured by ELISA kit. The variant genotypes rs17817276GG, rs3856806CT and rs3856806CT/TT of PPAR-γ were associated with T2DM, P = 0.023,0.037 and 0.018, respectively. Furthermore, the prevalence of haplotype GT in PPAR-γ was less frequent in the case subjects (0.3%) than in the controls (1.9%) [P < 0.001,OR(95%CI)=0.13 (0.06-0.31)]. Patients with genotype TT of rs3856806 had a higher serum level of adiponectin than those with the genotype CC and CT (P = 0.031 and 0.038, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between patients and controls in genotype distribution of rs6537944 and rs1045570 of the RXR-α gene. The present study suggests that the variant genotypes in the PPAR-γ gene could decrease the risk for the development of T2DM in the Chinese Han population.