Genetic association of adiponectin with type 2 diabetes in Jordanian Arab population

Adiponectin, a protein exclusively secreted by adipose tissue and present at low levels in obese individuals, is now widely recognized as a key determinant of insulin sensitivity and protection against obesity-associated metabolic syndrome. In Jordan, prevalence of diabetes (17.1%) is twice that of the United States (7.8%). In this study, we examined the contribution of the promoter variant rs266729 (-11377C>G) of the ADIPOQ gene as a risk factor for diabetic patients in Jordan. DNA was extracted from blood samples for patients and controls .Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism were used to genotype this variant. A total of 420 type 2 diabetic patients and 230 controls were successfully genotyped. The results showed a significant genotypic (p=0.00001) and allelic (p=0.01) association with variant in the diabetic patients as compared to controls. This suggests that the ADIPOQ gene plays a major role in increasing the risk of diabetes, at least in the Jordanian Arab population.