Diabetes 53:1905-1910, 2004 © 2004 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
The –866A/A Genotype in the Promoter of the Human Uncoupling Protein 2 Gene Is Associated With Insulin Resistance and Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
1 Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Uncoupling protein (UCP)-2 is a member of the mitochondrial inner membrane carriers that uncouple pro-ton entry in the mitochondrial matrix from ATP synthesis. The –866G/A polymorphism in the UCP2 gene, which enhances its transcriptional activity, was associated with enhanced risk for type 2 diabetes in obese subjects. We addressed the question of whether the –866G/A polymorphism contributes to variation in insulin sensitivity by genotyping 181 nondiabetic offspring of type 2 diabetic patients. Insulin sensitivity, assessed by the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, was reduced in –866A/A carriers compared with –866A/G or –866G/G carriers (P = 0.01). To directly investigate the correlation between UCP2 expression and insulin resistance, UCP2 mRNA levels were measured by real-time RT-PCR in subcutaneous fat obtained from 100 obese subjects who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. UCP2 mRNA expression was significantly correlated with insulin resistance as assessed by the homeostasis model assessment index (r = 0.27, P = 0.007). We examined the association of the –866A/A genotype in a case-control study including 483 type 2 diabetic subjects and 565 control subjects. The –866A/A genotype was associated with diabetes in women (odds ratio 1.84, 95% CI 1.03–3.28; P = 0.037), but not in men. These results indicate that the –866A/A genotype of the UCP2 gene may contribute to diabetes susceptibility by affecting insulin sensitivity.
Address correspondence reprint requests to Giorgio Sesti, MD, Dipartimento Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, Università Magna-Græcia di Catanzaro, Via Campanella 115, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy. E-mail: sesti{at}unicz.it. Or Franco Folli, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, HS Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy. E-mail: folli.franco{at}hsr.it
Abbreviations: CT, computerized tomography; HOMA, homeostasis model assessment; OGTT, glucose tolerance test; UCP, uncoupling protein; UTR, untranslated region The pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes includes two apparently distinct defects, i.e., impairments in insulin action at the level of skeletal muscle, fat, and liver and inadequate compensation by the pancreatic ß-cells, ultimately resulting in fasting hyperglycemia (1,2). The pathogenesis of both of these components is generally thought to be multifactorial, involving both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors (3). However, identifying genes that confer susceptibility to type 2 diabetes has proven problematic. Given the significant correlation between obesity and type 2 diabetes, it is plausible that genetic defects in candidate genes involved in the development of obesity may also predispose to type 2 diabetes. One of the many genes that might be involved in the development of obesity as well as diabetes could be uncoupling protein (UCP)-2, a member of the mitochondrial inner membrane carrier family that is expressed in several tissues, including adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, liver, and pancreatic islets (4,5). Like the homologous UCP1, UCP2 mediates mitochondrial proton leak, releasing energy stored within the proton motive force as heat, which ultimately results in a decrease in ATP production. In pancreatic ß-cells, an increased expression or activity of UCP2 may contribute to impairing insulin secretion by reducing the ATP-to-ADP ratio, which is required for closure of the membrane ATP-sensitive potassium channel, and subsequent membrane depolarization, influx of calcium, and insulin granule exocytosis. Accordingly, it has been demonstrated that overexpression of UCP2 in rat islets of Langerhans or pancreatic ß-cell lines resulted in blunted glucose-stimulated insulin secretion that was associated with reduction in cellular ATP levels (6,7). In addition, UCP2–/– knockout mice are characterized by higher islet ATP levels and increased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion both in vivo and in isolated pancreatic islets (8). However, the putative physiological role of UCP2 as a mitochondrial uncoupler, and thus its relation to thermogenesis, is still debatable. It has been reported (9) that mRNA expression of UCP2 in human skeletal muscle is increased during starvation-induced weight loss, a well-known condition of suppressed thermogenesis and increased lipid utilization. Furthermore, studies (10–12) in rodents and humans have led to an alternative hypothesis that centers on a primary role for UCP2 in regulating lipids as fuel substrate by switching metabolism from a state of enhanced lipid utilization during starvation to one of reduced lipid utilization during refeeding. Because increased lipid oxidation may impair glucose metabolism (the Randle cycle) (13), increased expression of UCP2 could result in peripheral insulin resistance. In support of this view, UCP2–/– knockout mice showed an increased insulin sensitivity during a hyperglycemic clamp study and appeared to be protected against high-fat diet–induced insulin resistance (8,14). Recently, it has been reported (15,16) that a common –866G/A polymorphism in the promoter of the human UCP2 gene, which enhances its transcriptional activity, resulting in increased UCP2 mRNA levels in human fat cells, is associated with a reduced risk of obesity but increased risk of type 2 diabetes in obese middle-aged subjects. In the present study, the possible association of the common –866G/A polymorphism in the promoter of the human UCP2 gene with insulin resistance was evaluated in a cohort of 181 Italian nondiabetic offspring with only one parent affected by type 2 diabetes. Because these individuals have a 30–40% lifetime risk of developing diabetes, they represent a valuable model to study the pathophysiological impact of polymorphisms in candidate genes without the confounding effect of hyperglycemia (17). The clinical and laboratory features of the study subjects are shown in Table 1. Of these subjects, 75 (41.4%) were –866G/G homozygous, 84 (46.4%) were –866G/A heterozygous, and the remainder (12.2%) were –866A/A homozygous. The genotype distribution was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No significant differences in age, sex, BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, fasting plasma glucose levels, fasting plasma insulin concentrations, triglycerides, and total and HDL cholesterol were observed among the three genotypes (Table 1). By contrast, insulin sensitivity, assessed as whole-body glucose disposal by the gold standard hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, was significantly reduced in offspring of type 2 diabetic patients carrying the –866A/A genotype as compared with both –866A/G and –866G/G genotypes (P = 0.01). No significant differences in insulin sensitivity were observed between offspring carrying the –866A/G genotype and those carrying the –866G/G genotype, thus suggesting a recessive effect of the polymorphism. These differences remained significant (P = 0.037) after adjusting for sex, age, and BMI. Also, the glucose clamp–derived insulin sensitivity index was significantly reduced in offspring of type 2 diabetic patients carrying the –866A/A genotype as compared with both –866A/G and –866G/G genotypes (P = 0.01). These differences remained significant (P = 0.015) after adjusting for sex, age, and BMI. These data are consistent with those reported by Krempler et al. (16), who showed that obese nondiabetic subjects carrying the –866A/A genotype have reduced insulin sensitivity as compared with those who were –866G/G homozygous and –866G/A heterozygous, although these differences did not reach statistical significance, likely due to the small number of subjects examined. While this work was in preparation, Le Fur et al. (18) reported that obese children carrying the –866A/A genotype exhibit similar insulin sensitivity, as estimated by area under the curves during an oral glucose tolerance test, compared with the other two genotypes. We have no direct explanation for this discrepancy. Obviously, differences in the genetic background influencing sensitivity and insulin secretion between juvenile and adulthood forms of obesity ("early-onset obesity" versus "late-onset obesity") may account for these differences. According to this line of reasoning, in middle-aged adults the –866A/A genotype was found by us and others to be associated with variations in insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion (16,19), whereas no differences in these parameters were observed in children with juvenile obesity (18). There is evidence that insulin secretion is significantly lower in homozygous carriers of the –866A/A genotype compared with –866G/A heterozygous and –866A/A homozygous carriers (16,19). To determine whether the –866G/A polymorphism affected the capability to compensate for insulin resistance, we compared the disposition index, calculated as the product of the glucose disposal measured during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, and the insulin secretion estimated by log-transformed homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index among genotype groups. After adjusting for sex, age, and BMI, carriers of the –866A/A genotype showed a significantly lower disposition index (32.1 ± 14.8) compared with carriers of either –866G/G or –866A/G (41.7 ± 12.9 and 40.7 ± 13.1, respectively; P < 0.045).
It has been reported (15,20) that the –866G/A polymorphism is in linkage disequilibrium with two other common polymorphisms of the UCP2 gene, the 55A/V variant and the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) I/D variant. We therefore genotyped our offspring cohort to investigate the possible association of these two common polymorphisms of the UCP2 gene with insulin resistance. As shown in Table 1, although subjects carrying the 55V/V genotype or the 3'-UTR I/I tended to have lower insulin sensitivity, no significant differences in clinical and biochemical characteristics were observed among the genotypes. Of the 12 haplotypes observed, only 5 have a frequency of >5%, accounting for 83.6% of all of the observed haplotypes. As shown in Table 2, no significant associations between clinical and biochemical variables and haplotype combinations were observed.
Next, we directly investigated whether there was a significant correlation between UCP2 expression in insulin target tissue and insulin resistance. To this aim, we examined UCP2 mRNA expression by real-time RT-PCR in abdominal subcutaneous fat obtained from a large cohort consisting of 100 unrelated obese individuals who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. We found a significant correlation between adipose UCP2 mRNA expression and insulin resistance assessed by HOMA (r = 0.27, P = 0.007). The correlation remained significant after correction for age, sex, and BMI (r = 0.22, P = 0.03). There was no significant relationship between UCP2 mRNA levels and age, BMI, waist, waist-to-hip ratio, fasting and 2-h postload plasma glucose levels, HbA1c, triglycerides, and total and HDL cholesterol concentrations. There was no significant relationship between UCP2 mRNA levels and ultrasound thickness of visceral or subcutaneous adipose tissue measured in 60 of the 100 obese individuals studied. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between UCP2 mRNA levels and computerized tomography (CT) scan thickness of visceral adipose tissue, CT scan thickness of subcutaneous adipose tissue, CT scan area of visceral adipose tissue, and CT scan area of subcutaneous adipose tissue measured in 32 of the 100 obese individuals. These data are consistent with those of some, but not all, reports (9,21,22) showing an increased expression of UCP2 in adipose tissue of insulin-resistant subjects. We have recently reported (19) that insulin secretion was significantly lower in homozygous glucose-tolerant carriers of the –866A/A genotype compared with –866G/A heterozygous and –866A/A homozygous carriers. Furthermore, pancreatic islets isolated from –866A/A homozygous nondiabetic individuals showed lower insulin secretion in response to glucose stimulation compared with –866G/G and –866G/A carriers, thus supporting the possibility that the common –866G/A polymorphism in the UCP2 gene may contribute to type 2 diabetes by affecting insulin secretion (19). Because both insulin resistance and impaired compensatory insulin secretion play essential roles in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, we next tested whether the –866A/A genotype is associated with type 2 diabetes in a cohort consisting of 483 type 2 diabetic patients and 565 nondiabetic control subjects. The clinical characteristics of this cohort are shown in Table 3. Hardy-Weinberg expectations were fulfilled in both nondiabetic control subjects and diabetic patients (Table 4). The frequency of the –866A/A genotype was 13.3% among diabetic patients and 9.2% among nondiabetic control subjects. Thus, applying a recessive model, the –866A/A genotype was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.037), with carriers having a relative risk of 1.5 (95% CI 1.02–2.22). Sex significantly influenced the results. When analysis was carried out in women, the –866A/A genotype was more prevalent in the diabetic group (14.0%) than in the nondiabetic control subjects (7.3%) (odds ratio [OR] 1.8, 95% CI 1.03–3.28; P = 0.037) (Table 4). Adjustment for age and BMI in a multivariate logistic regression analysis did not change this association (1.8, 1.02–3.24; P = 0.042) (Table 4). Estimated risks of G/G homozygous and G/A heterozygous subjects did not differ, which is consistent with a recessive effect of the "at-risk" allele A. In men, the difference in genotype distribution between diabetic patients (12.4%) and nondiabetic control subjects (11.9%) was not statistically significant (P = 0.72). These results suggest that the –866A/A genotype may confer increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes in a sex-specific fashion, as previously reported (16) in a cohort of obese middle-aged subjects.
In conclusion, our results suggest that the –866A/A genotype in the promoter of the UCP2 gene is associated with insulin resistance in individuals with genetic predisposition for type 2 diabetes. These findings, coupled with previous data reported by us and other groups (16,19) showing that –866A/A homozygous carriers have impaired insulin secretion, suggest that this polymorphism may contribute to type 2 diabetes by affecting both ß-cell function and insulin action. Our results in diabetic women are consistent with this idea and support concepts that are emerging from studies (8,12,14) in animal models. Allele-specific enhancement of UCP2 expression in ß-cells would decrease ATP synthesis by mitochondrial uncoupling and, thereby, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. On the other hand, because ATP is required for many cellular functions, including insulin signaling cascade and translocation of glucose transporters from the intracellular pool to the plasma membrane, allele-specific enhancement of UCP2 expression in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue could result in impaired insulin action. Moreover, in light of increasing evidence of the role of UCP2 as a regulator of lipid metabolism, it is possible that increased UCP2 expression may interfere with glucose metabolism by favoring lipid oxidation according to Randles hypothesis (13). However, this possibility seems in contrast with a recent report (18) showing that obese children carrying the –866A/A genotype exhibit increased carbohydrate oxidation and decreased lipid oxidation compared with –866G/G homozygous and –866G/A heterozygous carriers despite comparable glucose, free fatty acid, and insulin levels. The present findings in an Italian population need to be replicated in independent studies to determine whether the –866G/A UCP2 promoter polymorphism influences insulin secretion and action and whether it is truly implicated in the development of type 2 diabetes in individuals at risk. We cannot exclude the possibility that the –866G/A polymorphism of UCP2 is not itself responsible for the observed association with impaired peripheral insulin action, but instead it is in linkage disequilibrium with an unknown causative variant in a distal regulatory site or with an unidentified causative polymorphism in a gene different from, but close to, the UCP2 gene.
Clinical characteristics of the groups studied are provided in Tables 1–3.
Cohort 1.
Cohort 2.
Cohort 3. All studies were approved by institutional ethics committees, and informed consent was obtained from each subject in accordance with principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
DNA analysis.
Adipose tissue gene expression.
Statistical analysis.
This study was supported in part by grants from the European Community "EuroDiabetesGene" no. QLG1-CT-1999-00674 (to G.S.), by the Ministero della Sanità (to G.S.), by PRIN-COFIN 2001 and 2002 from the Ministero dellIstruzione, Università e Ricerca (to G.S. and R.L.). F.F. was supported by the Ministero della Sanità (Ricerca Finalizzata 2001) and PRIN-COFIN 2001. L.P. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship of the University of Milan, School of Medicine. We are grateful to Emanuela Laratta and Pierluigi De Nicolais for their expert technical assistance in genotyping.
M.D., L.P, and M.C. contributed equally to this work. Received for publication January 19, 2004 and accepted in revised form April 14, 2004
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