Association analysis of TNFRSF1B polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes and its related traits in North India

Inflammation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and various lines of evidences suggest an important contribution of type 2 receptor for TNFα (TNFR2), a mediator of inflammatory responses. Though genetic association of TNFRSF1B (encoding TNFR2) polymorphisms have been investigated in various studies, their involvement is not clear because of inconsistent findings. Because of high susceptibility of Indian population to type 2 diabetes and its complications, we evaluated the association of TNFRSF1B polymorphisms-rs1061622 (M196R; exon6) and rs3397 (3′UTR) and (CA) _n repeat (intron 4) in 1,852 subjects including 1,040 cases and 812 controls with type 2 diabetes and its associated peripheral neuropathy and hypertension in North Indians of Indo-European ethnicity. The allelic and genotypic distributions of these polymorphisms were comparable among healthy control vs. type 2 diabetes, peripheral neuropathy vs. non-neuropathy and hypertensive vs. normotensive groups. (CA) _n polymorphism has been shown to be associated with diabetic neuropathy in Caucasians, however, this could not be replicated in our study (P = 0.27). None of the polymorphisms were found to influence the 14 anthropometric and biochemical traits related to type 2 diabetes studied here. Thus, we conclude that TNFRSF1B is not a major contributing factor to the genetic risk of type 2 diabetes, its associated peripheral neuropathy and hypertension and related metabolic traits in North Indians.