Association of TCF7L2 Gene Polymorphisms with T2DM in the Population of Hyderabad, India

We attempt to evaluate the nature of association of TCF7L2 gene variants with T2DM, for the first time in the population of Hyderabad, which is considered to be diabetic capital of India. It is a case-control study of the three SNPs of TCF7L2, rs7903146, rs12255372 and rs11196205, genotyped on Sequenom Massarray platform, in a sample of 758 patients and 621 controls. The risk allele frequency of the three SNPs was found to be significantly higher in the T2DM cases than controls, implicating susceptibility for diabetes (p<0.01). The greatest risk of developing the disease was conferred by rs7903146. Further, the logistic regression of genotypes of each SNP under log additive model, and the haplotypes constituted by at least one of the three risk alleles also show significantly greater risk of developing T2DM when compared to the wild type haplotype. Further, BMI and WHR emerge as significant covariates with confounding effects. The strong association of the TCF7L2 SNPs with T2DM is consistent with the findings among other Indian and Non-Indian populations, suggesting universal phenomena of its association across ethnic groups globally, both within and outside the Indian subcontinent, albeit the functional relevance of these SNPs needs yet to be established.