Association of exonic variants of Klotho with metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians

Abstract

BackgroundKlotho, an anti-aging gene, is a functional candidate for metabolic syndrome. We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association of the genetic variants of Klotho with metabolic syndrome and surrogates of insulin resistance in Asian Indians. MethodsWe recruited 428 clinically normal subjects for the study. Genotyping was done by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. ResultsSignificant and borderline associations of the KL-VS (OR=15.88 [95%CI, 2.56–98.70], p=0.003) and C1818T (OR=0.28 [95%CI, 0.07–1.07], p=0.063) variants of the Klotho gene, respectively, were observed with metabolic syndrome. The association of the KL-VS variant with metabolic syndrome could be linked to its observed influence on high blood glucose (OR=6.92 [95% CI=1.75–27.44], p=0.006), high blood pressure (OR=5.21 [95%CI=1.00–38.43], p=0.046), insulin resistance (OR=3.59, [95%CI=1.01–12.79], p=0.048) and trend towards its association with hypertriglyceridemia (OR=3.69 [95%CI=0.92–14.77], p=0.065). ConclusionsThe genetic variants of Klotho might predict risk for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in Asian Indians. However, larger studies in other ethnic populations are warranted to determine the role of these gene variants in the etiology of metabolic syndrome.