Common Variants of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1B are Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in a Chinese Population

Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiao Tong University Affiliated sixth people's Hospital,shanghai diabetes institute,shanghai clinical center for diabetes.
Objective:Hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B(HNF 1B)is a transcription factor that is critical for pancreatic cell formation and glucose homeostasis.Previous studies have reported that common variants of HNF 1B were associated with type 2 diabetes in Caucasians and West Africans.However analysis in the subjects from the Botnia study and Malm?Preventive Project produced a conflicting result and the role for HNF 1B in type 2 diabetes susceptibility has remained unclear.We therefore investigated common variants across the HNF 1B gene in achinese population.
Research Design and Methods:Fifteen tagging SNPs were analyzed for association with type 2 diabetes in subjects with type 2 diabetes (n=1,859) and normal glucose regulation(n=1,785).
Results:Consistent with the initial study,we observed evidence that the risk G allele of rs4430796 in intron 2 was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes (odds ratia [OR] 1.16 [95 CI% 1.05 - 1.29],P=0.0035,empirical p=0.0475).
Furthermore,the at-risk G allele was associated with earlier age at diagnosis in the type 2 diabetic subjects(P=0.0228).
Conclusions:The result of this study provides evidence that variants in the HNF 1B region contribute to suscepribility to type 2 diabetes in the chinese population.