ABSTRACT
Adipose tissue, an endocrine organ, secretes bioactive factors including adiponectin. Adiponectin is a protein hormone that enhances insulin sensitivity through increased fatty acid oxidation and inhibition of hepatic glucose production. We assessed the association of the adiponectin promoter region polymorphisms -11391 G/A and -11377 C/G with susceptibility to type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM) diabetes mellitus in the population of west Iran. Also, we investigated the effect of adiponectin level and lipid profile on T1DM and T2DM development. In this case-control study, we recruited 189 patients with diabetes (100 T2DM and 89 T1DM) and 161 sex and age-matched unrelated healthy controls. Adiponectin mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and the protein level was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Other biochemical parameters were determined by routine laboratory methods. The G allele of adiponectin gene at -11377 position (C/G) significantly increased the risk of T1DM. With respect to genotype models, codominant (2.97 times), dominant (3.6-fold), and over-codominant (2.9-fold) patients with T1DM who carried -11377 C > G single-nucleotide polymorphisms were significantly susceptible to the development of the disease. A significantly higher level of adiponectin in T1DM was oberved compared with the control group. In contrast, patients with T2DM had lower adiponectin levels compared with healthy controls. The genotype distributions of -11391 G/A polymorphisms were the same for patients with diabetes and control groups. The presence of G allele at -11377 C/G adiponectin gene significantly increased serum adiponectin level and may be a risk factor for T1DM susceptibility among the western Iranian population.