Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with increased production of reactive oxygen species and a reduction in antioxidant defenses leading to oxidative stress. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) modulate oxidative stress. The present cross-sectional study was aimed at investigating the association between the GSTP1 gene polymorphism and T2DM and to clarify their effect on the glycemic control parameters.
Material and methods: From the Egyptian population, we enrolled 112 T2DM patients and 188 healthy controls matched for age, sex and origin. Serum lipid profile, blood-glucose level, glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) and body mass index (BMI) were measured. DNA was extracted from the blood samples. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to measure GSTP1 Ile¹⁰⁵Val gene polymorphism of study participants.
Results: The frequency of the Val allele in exon 5 of the GSTP1 gene in patients with T2DM was higher than that observed in healthy controls (15.2% vs. 9.6%); the difference was considered statistically significant when compared to Ile allele carriers (p = 0.03). The presence of the GSTP1 heterozygous mutant allele Ile/Val was more common in subjects with T2DM than in the control group (30.4% and 19.2%, respectively; p = 0.02). Variation in the GSTP1 gene was associated with BMI (p = 0.02) and not associated with glycemic control parameters (fasting serum glucose and HbA_1c) or smoking-related risk of T2DM.
Conclusions: GSTP1 gene polymorphism may play a significant role in increasing the susceptibility to and risk of T2DM and obesity regardless of smoking status and had no apparent effect on HbA_1c in patients with diabetes mellitus.