Association of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 gene functional variant C1858T, HLA-DQ/DR genotypes and autoantibodies with susceptibility to type-1 diabetes mellitus in Kuwaiti Arabs.

Mohammad Z Haider,Majedah A Rasoul,Gursev S Dhaunsi,Maria Al-Mahdi,Hessa Al-Kandari

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0198652

Abstract

The incidence of type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) has increased steadily in Kuwait during recent years and it is now considered amongst the high-incidence countries. An interaction between susceptibility genes, immune system mediators and environmental factors predispose susceptible individuals to T1DM. We have determined the prevalence of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene functional variant (C1858T; R620W, rs2476601), HLA-DQ and DR alleles and three autoantibodies in Kuwaiti children with T1DM to evaluate their impact on genetic predisposition of the disease. This study included 253 Kuwaiti children with T1DM and 214 ethnically matched controls. The genotypes of PTPN22 gene functional variant C1858T (R620W; rs2476601) were detected by PCR-RFLP method and confirmed by DNA sequencing. HLA-DQ and DR alleles were determined by sequence-specific PCR. Three autoantibodies were detected in the T1DM patients using radio-immunoassays. A significant association was detected between the variant genotype of the PTPN22 gene (C1858T, rs2476601) and T1DM in Kuwaiti Arabs. HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 alleles showed a strong association with T1DM. In T1DM patients which carried the variant TT-genotype of the PTPN22 gene, 93% had at least one DQ2 allele and 60% carried either a DQ2 or a DQ8 allele. Amongst the DR alleles, the DR3-DRB5, DR3-3, DR3-4 and DR4-4 showed a strong association with T1DM. Majority of T1DM patients who carried homozygous variant (TT) genotype of the PTPN22 gene had either DR3-DRB5 or DRB3-DRB4 genotypes. In T1DM patients who co-inherited the high risk HLA DQ, DR alleles with the variant genotype of PTPN22 gene, the majority were positive for three autoantibodies. Our data demonstrate that the variant T-allele of the PTPN22 gene along with HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 alleles constitute significant determinants of genetic predisposition of T1DM in Kuwaiti children.

Highlights

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has a multifactorial etiology and is considered to result from T cell-mediated beta-cell destruction in pancreas of the genetically susceptible individuals
We report the prevalence of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene C1858T variant, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ and DR alleles and their correlation with the presence of three autoantibodies in Kuwaiti Arabs with T1DM and controls and have evaluated their possible contributions in determining the genetic predisposition to type 1 diabetes
When the frequencies of the C and T allele and the PTPN22 genotypes were compared between T1DM and control groups, the differences were statistically significant (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has a multifactorial etiology and is considered to result from T cell-mediated beta-cell destruction in pancreas of the genetically susceptible individuals. The genetic component to T1DM onset has been studied extensively during the last few decades [3]. These studies showed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region as the main locus associated with T1DM susceptibility [3,4]. By using various approaches, >60 loci have been identified which are involved in genetic susceptibility to T1DM [2, 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] In many of these ‘susceptibility loci’, the underlying causative genes, and/or the molecular mechanism by which they confer susceptibility are not yet known. In spite of rapid progress made by the genetic association studies, much remain to be elucidated about contribution of the susceptibility loci in different populations/ethnic groups

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Conclusion