Association of the TCF7L2 rs12255372 (G/T) variant with type 2 diabetes mellitus in an Iranian population

in various populations worldwide, common variants of the tcf7l2 (transcription factor 7-like 2) gene are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm). the aim was to investigate the association between rs12255372 (g/t) polymorphism in the tcf7l2 gene and t2dm in an iranian population. 236 unrelated patients with t2dm, and 255 normoglycemic controls without diabetes were studied. the pcr-rflp method was used for genotyping rs12255372 (g/t) polymorphism, and the spss version 18.0 for windows for statistical analysis. the minor t allele of tcf7l2 rs12255372 was found to significantly increase the risk of t2dm, with an allelic odds ratio (or) of 1.458 (95% ci 1.108-1.918, p = 0.007). a significant difference in tt genotype was observed between t2dm patients and normoglycemic controls (or 2.038, 95% ci 1.147-3.623; p = 0.014). on assuming dominant and recessive models, ors of 1.52 [95% ci (1.05-2.21) p = 0.026)] and 1.74 [95% ci (1.01-3.00) p = 0.043] were obtained, respectively, thereby implying that the co-dominant model would best fit the susceptible gene effect. this study further confirms the tcf7l2 gene as enhancing susceptibility to the development of t2dm.