BACKGROUND

Type 2 diabetes mellitus describes a metabolic disorder characterised by prolonged elevated blood glucose that brings a risk of developing microvascular and macrovascular disease. Several factors, such as dysregulation of the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), are reputed to contribute to the multiple pathophysiological disturbances responsible for impaired glucose homeostasis. We hypothesised that variants rs5030717 and rs5030718 of TLR4 are associated with diabetic nephropathy, hypertension and dyslipidaemia.

MATERIAL & METHODS: We recruited 370 diabetics (122 with nephropathy, 119 with hypertension and 129 with dyslipidaemia) and 120 ethnicity matched healthy controls. TLR4 polymorphisms were evaluated using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The genotyping data were compared between cases and controls using chi-square test and logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Although there was no overall difference in the genotype frequencies of TLR4 rs5030717 in diabetes v controls, the genotype frequencies of diabetic dyslipidaemia cases compared with controls were different (p = 0.001). Overall, the rs5030718 GA and GG genotype frequencies in the entire diabetes cohort were different from those of the controls (p = 0.037), and the frequencies of diabetic nephropathy cases (p = 0.03) and diabetic dyslipidaemia cases were different (p = 0.001) compared with controls. There were no links with diabetic hypertension.

CONCLUSION

TLR4 polymorphisms rs5030717 and rs5030718 may be useful in predicting those type 2 diabetics who are at risk of hypertension, nephropathy and/or dyslipidaemia.