Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and the development of diabetic nephropathy

Abstract

Background: Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and the development of diabetic nephropathy Background: Intron 4 insertion/deletion polymorphism of the constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) gene may be related to diabetic nephropathy. Methods: A case-control study was performed in three groups of Japanese patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which including 123 patients with advanced diabetic nephropathy, 107 patients with overt proteinuria and normal serum creatinine level, and a control group of 203 patients with normal renal function despite having diabetes for over 10 years. Additionally, logistic regression analysis was used to assess the findings. Results: When we examined the a-deletion/b-insertion in intron 4 of ecNOS gene, the genotype and allele frequencies were not significantly different between the patients with advanced diabetic nephropathy (a/a 2.4, a/b 21.9, b/b 75.5, ‘a’ 13.4, ‘b’ 86.6%), the patients with overt proteinuria (a/a 2.8, a/b 15.8, b/b 81.4, ‘a’ 10.7, ‘b’ 89.3%) and the control group (a/a 1.4, a/b 21.6, b/b 76.8, ‘a’ 12.8, ‘b’ 87.7%). Logistic regression analysis showed that the ecNOS intron4 a-allele frequency was not the related to nephropathy ( P=0.88). Conclusion: We conclude that there is no association of the ecNOS gene polymorphism with the development of diabetic nephropathy in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.