evaluation of relationship between hnf-1α and glp-1r polymorphisms and type 2 diabetes in a population living in northeast of iran

the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) is rising dramatically in the middle east, especially in the islamic republic of iran, but the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes in iran is poorly understood. polymorphisms of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (hnf-1α) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (glp-1r) genes showed association with type 2 diabetes in several ethnic groups. in this study, we evaluated whether these markers confer susceptibility to t2dm in a diabetic population living in mashhad (northeast of iran). genotyping of ala98val (hnf-1α) and thr149met (glp-1r) was done by the restriction fragment length polymorphism-pcr (rflp-pcr) method in the following groups: 1) early-onset diabetes (age at onset ≤ 35 years); 2) late-onset diabetes (age at onset > 35 years); and 3) control. our results showed that ct (ala/val) genotype of hnf-1α was higher in the early-onset type 2 diabetic group compared to the controls but difference was not significant. we did not find the glp-1r thr149met mutation in all participants. the prevalence of the hnf-1α (ala98val) and (glp-1r) thr149met mutations has not been previously reported in iranian participants. we conclude that these mutations are not a common cause of t2dm in our studied population.