Associations of genetic markers of diabetes mellitus with carotid atherosclerosis: a community-based case–control study

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a well-established determinant of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified several single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) significantly correlated with DM. The study aimed to explore the relationships of the top significant DM SNPs with carotid atherosclerosis (CA). METHODS: We used a case–control design and randomly selected 309 cases and 439 controls with and without, respectively, carotid plaque (CP) from a community-based cohort. Eight recent GWAS on DM in East Asians reported hundreds of SNPs with genome-wide significance. The study used the top significant DM SNPs, with a p-value < 10(–16), as the candidate genetic markers of CA. The independent effects of these DM SNPs on CA were assessed by multivariable logistic regression analyses to control the effects of conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors. RESULTS: Multivariable analyses showed that, 9 SNPs, including rs4712524, rs1150777, rs10842993, rs2858980, rs9583907, rs1077476, rs7180016, rs4383154, and rs9937354, showed promising associations with the presence of carotid plaque (CP). Among them, rs9937354, rs10842993, rs7180016, and rs4383154 showed significantly independent effects. The means (SD) of the 9-locus genetic risk score (9-GRS) of CP-positive and -negative subjects were 9.19 (1.53) and 8.62 (1.63), respectively (p < 0.001). The corresponding values of 4-locus GRS (4-GRS) were 4.02 (0.81) and. 3.78 (0.92), respectively (p < 0.001). The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio of having CP for per 1.0 increase in 9-GRS and 4-GRS were 1.30 (95% CI 1.18–1.44; p = 4.7 × 10(–7)) and 1.47 (95% CI 1.74–9.40; p = 6.1 × 10(–5)), respectively. The means of multi-locus GRSs of DM patients were similar to those of CP-positive subjects and higher than those of CP-negative or DM-negative subjects. CONCLUSIONS: We identified 9 DM SNPs showing promising associations with CP. The multi-locus GRSs may be used as biomarkers for the identification and prediction of high-risks subjects for atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic diseases. Future studies on these specific SNPs and their associated genes may provide valuable information for the preventions of DM and atherosclerosis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-023-01787-7.