Lack of association between fat mass and obesity-associated genetic variant (rs8050136) and type 2 diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVES: To study the genotype and allele frequency of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) rs8050136 A>C genetic variant and investigate its association with type 2 diabetes mekkitus (T2DM) parameters. METHODS: This study was carried out on 118 diabetic patients and 106 healthy individuals (control) from Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia. The TaqMan single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)genotyping assay was used for rs8050136 genotyping. RESULTS: The frequency of the genotype AA was the same among T2DM and healthy control groups (21%). However, the frequency of genotype CC was 19.5% in T2DM patients and 24.5% in control individuals. There was no significant association between FTO SNP rs8050136 and an increased risk of T2DM. Furthermore, there was no association between the risk AA genotype and fasting blood glucose (p=0.092), glycated hemoglobin (p=0.177), or body mass index (p=0.561). CONCLUSION: Our findings show that the FTO rs8050136 A>C variant is not associated with T2DM in the Saudi population.