Common Variants of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1B are Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in a Chinese Population

Abstract

Objective: Hepatocyte nuclear factor 1β (HNF1B) is a transcription factor that is critical for pancreatic cell formation and glucose homeostasis. Previous studies have reported that common variants of HNF1B were associated with type 2 diabetes in Caucasians and West Africans. However analysis in the subjects from the Botnia study and Malmö Preventive Project produced a conflicting result and the role for HNF1B in type 2 diabetes susceptibility has remained unclear. We therefore investigated common variants across the HNF1B gene in a Chinese population.

Research Design and Methods: Fifteen tagging SNPs were analyzed for association with type 2 diabetes in subjects with type 2 diabetes (n = 1,859) and normal glucose regulation (n = 1,785).

Results: Consistent with the initial study, we observed evidence that the risk G allele of rs4430796 in intron 2 was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 1.16 [95 CI% 1.05 − 1.29], P = 0.0035, empirical P = 0.0475). Furthermore, the at-risk G allele was associated with earlier age at diagnosis in the type 2 diabetic subjects (P = 0.0228).

Conclusions: The result of this study provides evidence that variants in the HNF1B region contribute to susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in the Chinese population.