Association of Vitamin D deficiency and Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms with Type 2 diabetes mellitus Saudi patients

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a global problem. Association of multiple genes in T2DM becomes a hot point recently. This study was aimed to evaluate association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to T2DM. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred T2DM Saudi male patients were included in this study and one hundred healthy Saudi men were used as control. For each individual, fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, HbA1c, insulin and 25-(OH) vitamin D were measured. In addition, Apal, BsmI and TaqI genotypes were performed for each subject. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16, using Spearman's rho and ANOVA tests. RESULTS: There was significant inverse correlation between 25-(OH) vitamin D level and T2DM (p<0.01). HbA1c was inversely correlated with 25-(OH) vitamin D level (P<0.05). Genotype study showed that tt of TaqI genotype was higher in T2DM group compared with control group (p<0.05). Moreover, tt genotype has higher HbA1c than both TT and Tt genotypes (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: An association was confirmed between TaqI genotypes and T2DM but there is no correlation between BsmI, ApaI and T2DM. In addition, HbA1c is positively correlated with tt genotype of TaqI.