Association of the glucokinase gene promoter polymorphism -30G > A (rs1799884) with gestational diabetes mellitus susceptibility: a case-control study and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE

Several studies have examined the association between glucokinase (GCK)-30G > A polymorphism and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the results are still controversial. We performed the case-control study to investigate whether GCK-30G > A polymorphism correlates with the susceptibility of GDM in Chinese populations, and then conducted a meta-analysis by combining the previous studies.

METHODS

We recruited 948 GDM patients and 975 controls from May 2011 to August 2013. All the subjects were genotyped using the PCR-based invader assay. The differences of allelic frequencies and genotype distributions between GDM patients and controls were investigated in case-control study. A systematic search of all relevant studies was conducted. The observational studies that were related to an association between the glucokinase (GCK)-30G > A polymorphism and GDM were identified. The association between the glucokinase (GCK)-30G > A polymorphism and GDM susceptibility was assessed using genetic models.

RESULTS

The case-control study showed that GCK-30G > A polymorphism was associated with the susceptibility of GDM in a Chinese population. Furthermore, other six previously reported studies were included to perform meta-analysis. The meta-analysis showed that GCK-30G > A polymorphism was associated with GDM in Caucasian and Asian.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggested that GCK-30G > A polymorphism may be associated with the susceptibility of GDM in a Chinese population. The further meta-analysis provides additional evidence supporting the above result that the risk allele of the GCK-30G > A polymorphism may increase GDM risk.