Association of TCF7L2 Variants in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Hypertriglyceridemia – A Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic condition involving various genetic and environmental factors leading to impaired insulin secretion, resulting in hyperglycemia. The transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene is an element of the Wnt signaling pathway that plays an important role in glucose and lipid metabolism. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of TCF7L2 rs7903146 and rs12255372 polymorphisms in T2DM with hypertriglyceridemia. METHODS: We investigated the effect of rs7903146 and rs12255372 on T2DM with high triglyceride (TG) levels in 60 patients and 20 controls. The anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests were assessed. Peripheral blood samples were collected, and genomic DNA was extracted. The genotyping of TCF7L2 polymorphisms was carried out using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based direct sequencing and allele-specific PCR methods. The T2DM patients and controls were compared by means of the t-test, Chi-square test, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) using Epi Info v7. RESULTS: The HbA1c was found to be 9.7 ± 2.1 and 5.4 ± 0.5% in patients and controls, respectively. The average TG levels (P < 0.005) in patients were 205.2 ± 145.7 and 106.4 ± 27.4mg/dl in controls. Significant evidence of association was found in T2DM patients having high TG levels with rs7903146 CT/TT (OR: 4.89; P = 0.0105) and rs12255372 GT/TT (OR: 5.23; P = 0.0101) genotypes when compared to controls. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that TCF7L2 rs7903146 CT/TT and rs12255372 GT/TT genotypes are significantly associated with the risk of hypertriglyceridemia in individuals with T2DM among the studied population.