Genetic polymorphisms in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity in the Korean population

Aims: We examined whether the common polymorphisms of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) gene are associated with Type 2 diabetes or obesity in the Korean population. Methods: We genotyped two common PPARγ polymorphisms (Pro12Ala and 161C > T) and examined their association with the clinical phenotypes found in 684 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and 291 non-diabetic control subjects. Results: The 12Ala allele was less frequent in the Type 2 diabetic patients than in the non-diabetic control subjects (0.036 vs. 0.053, P = 0.024). The allele frequencies of the 161C > T polymorphism did not differ between the control and Type 2 diabetic group (0.158 vs. 0.173). In the non-diabetic controls, those with the T allele had lower BMI and fasting serum triglyceride (TG) concentrations than those with the C/C homozygote (22.712.9 vs. 23.8 ± 3.2 kg/m², P = 0.002; 1.45 ± 0.81 vs. 1.65 ± 0.83 mmol/1, P = 0.03, respectively). The 12Ala-161T haplotype was associated with a decreased risk for Type 2 diabetes (OR = 0.47, P = 0.009), whereas the 12Pro-161T haplotype was associated with lower BMI and lower fasting serum TG (22.5 ± 2.8 vs. 23.7 ± 3.2 kg/m², P = 0.004; 1.41 ± 0.87 vs. 1.64 ± 0.79 mmol/1, P = 0.02, respectively). Conclusions: The PPARγ 12Ala allele was associated with a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes, whereas the PPARγ 161T allele was associated with lower BMI and fasting serum TG concentrations in the Korean subjects. The subjects with 12Ala-161T haplotypes had a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes.