Association between STAT4 gene polymorphism and type 2 diabetes risk in Chinese Han population

Association of STAT4 Gene Polymorphisms (rs10181656, rs7574865, rs7601754, rs10168266) and Serum STAT4 Levels in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive degenerative disease that affects the central part of the retina: the macula. AMD is the most common cause of central vision loss in industrialized countries. Increasing attention is being paid to the study of genetic factors that may influence the manifestation of AMD. STAT4 protein is involved in the pathogenesis of numerous inflammatory processes, so we decided to investigate the association between STAT4 gene polymorphisms (rs10181656, rs7574865, rs7601754, and rs10168266) and age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE

To investigate the association between STAT4 (rs10181656, rs7574865, rs7601754, and rs10168266) gene polymorphisms and STAT4 serum levels in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS

The study included 150 individuals with early AMD, 150 individuals with exudative AMD, and 200 healthy subjects. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes using the DNA salting-out method, and the genotyping was performed using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. STAT4 serum levels were evaluated using the ELISA method. Statistical analysis was performed using "IBM SPSS "Statistics 29.0" software".

RESULTS

The study revealed no statistically significant differences in the distribution of genotypes and alleles for the STAT4 polymorphisms (rs10181656, rs7574865, rs7601754, and rs10168266) between patients with AMD and the control group. Similarly, a gender-based analysis did not yield any significant differences in the genotype or allele frequencies. Age group comparisons also showed no statistically significant variations in the presence of these STAT4 polymorphisms between AMD patients and the control group. However, notably, individuals with exudative AMD displayed lower levels of serum STAT4 in comparison to the control group (median (IQR): 0.118 (0.042) vs. 0.262 (0.385), p = 0.005).

CONCLUSION

Investigating STAT4 gene polymorphisms (rs10181656, rs7574865, rs7601754, and rs10168266) did not reveal a significant association with AMD. However, further analysis demonstrated intriguing findings regarding serum STAT4 levels. Exudative AMD patients with at least one G allele of the STAT4 rs10181656 exhibited significantly lower serum STAT4 levels than the control group subjects (p = 0.011). Similarly, those with at least one T allele of STAT4 rs10168266 had lower serum STAT4 levels compared to the control group subjects (p = 0.039). These results suggest a potential link between specific STAT4 genotypes and serum STAT4 levels in exudative AMD patients, shedding light on a novel aspect of the disease.

Association of FHL5 and LPA genetic polymorphisms with diabetes mellitus risk: a case-control study

BACKGROUND

China is one of the countries with the fastest growing prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the world. This study intended to investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FHL5 and LPA with DM risk in the Chinese population.

METHODS

This case-control study involved 1,420 Chinese individuals (710 DM patients and 710 controls). Four candidate loci (rs2252816/rs9373985 in FHL5 and rs3124784/rs7765781 in LPA) were successfully screened. The association of SNPs with DM risk was assessed by logistic regression analysis. Differences in clinical characteristics among subjects with different genotypes were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Overall analysis indicated that rs3124784 was associated with an increased risk of DM. Stratification analysis showed that rs3124784 significantly increased DM risk in different subgroups (male, non-smoking, non-drinking, and BMI > 24), while rs7765781 increased DM risk only in participants with BMI ≤ 24. Rs2252816 was associated with the course of DM. We also found that rs2252816 GG genotype and rs9373985 GG genotype were linked to the increased cystatin c in DM patients.

CONCLUSION

The genetic polymorphisms of LPA may be associated with DM risk in the Chinese population, which will provide useful information for the prevention and diagnosis of DM.

Explore the Mechanism of β-Asarone on Improving Cognitive Dysfunction in Rats with Diabetic Encephalopathy

Background: The number of people with diabetes is increasing, and many patients have significantly impaired cognitive function. For patients with diabetic encephalopathy (DE), simply lowering blood sugar does not improve learning and memory. Studies have shown that β-asarone can significantly improve cognitive impairment in patients with DE, but the specific mechanism of action is unclear. Objective: This experiment hopes to use a variety of experimental methods to clarify the protective effect and mechanism of β-asarone on brain neurons during the development of DE disease. Methods: A high-sugar and high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection-induced DE rat model was used. β-asarone was administered for four weeks. The experiment used the Morris water maze test, biochemical index detection, and many methods to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of β-asarone on DE rats from various aspects and understand its mechanism. Results: β-asarone reduced neuronal cell damage and significantly improved the learning and memory ability of DE rats. In addition, β-asarone can reduce the oxidative stress response and amyloid-β accumulation in the brain of DE model rats and increase the content of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the brain tissue, thereby reducing neuronal cell apoptosis and playing a protective role. Conclusion: β-asarone can reduce the accumulation of oxidative stress and amyloid-β in the brain, increase the content of BDNF, reduce the apoptosis of neuronal cells, and exert neuronal protection, thereby improving the learning and memory ability of DE model rats.

Contribution of genetic variant identified in HHEX gene in the overweight Saudi patients confirmed with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background

The rs7932837 polymorphism in the Hematopoietically expressed homeobox (HHEX) gene was discovered through genome-wide association studies and is a promising candidate for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which is one of the risk factors for obesity and other complications. T2DM has been identified as a heterogeneous and multifactorial disease characterized by insulin resistance and secretion.

Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate the rs7932837 polymorphism in the HHEX gene in overweight patients diagnosed with T2DM in the Saudi Population.

Methods

In this case-control study, one hundred T2DM cases and 100 controls were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Genotyping was performed with polymerase chair reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and statistical analysis was performed between T2DM cases and controls for clinical characteristics, genotype and allele frequencies and multiple logistic regression analysis.

Results

In this study, T2DM cases were compared with healthy control subjects. Clinical characteristic analysis revealed the statistical analysis between age, weight, BMI, FBG, HDL-c, TC, TG and family history (p < 0.05). HWE analysis was in the accordance (p < 0.05). The rs7932837 polymorphism in the recessive model showed the positive association (AA + AG vs AA: 2.22 [1.25–3.96] & p = 0.006) and none of the genotypes or alleles were in the statistical association. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed positive association with age, BMI and FBG (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

This study concludes as rs7932837 polymorphism in the HHEX gene showed positive association with recessive model and future studies recommend to carry out with large number of sample size with additional polymorphisms in HHEX gene.