Association between <i>LEKR1‐CCNL1</i> and <i>IGSF21‐KLHDC7A</i> gene polymorphisms and diabetic retinopathy of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Chinese Han population

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes. The present study aimed to identify a possible connection between gene polymorphisms and the risk of developing DR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 319 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were selected. All patients underwent a complete eye examination. Based on this, the patients with T2DM were divided into two subgroups: 175 patients with retinopathy (DR) and 144 patients without retinopathy (NDR). We calculated the genotype frequencies of case and control subjects using the chi-squares test. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. RESULTS: The finding by analysis is that the mean of duration of diabetes, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), glomerular filtration rate and C-peptide were significantly different between DR and NDR. We found significant differences in cystatin-C concentrations with LEKR1-CCNL1 rs13064954 and NOS3 rs3918227 of different genotypes. Significant differences in serum TG levels were seen among the three genotypes of MTHFR rs1537516. Subjects carried the T allele of IGSF21-KLHDC7A rs3007729 had higher serum LDL concentrations (p = 0.015). In the allele model, LEKR1-CCNL1 rs13064954 decreased the risk of DR (OR =0.57, 95% CI = 0.34-0.96, p = 0.032). Under the dominant model, the IGSF21-KLHDC7A rs3007729 CT-TT genotype increased the risk of DR (OR =1.84, 95% CI = 1.14-2.99, p = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that LEKR1-CCNL1 and IGSF21-KLHDC7A influence the development of DR.