Relationship between fat mass and obesity-associated gene expression and type 2 diabetes mellitus severity

This study sought to investigate any correlation between fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) expression and the severity of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In total 110 patients newly diagnosed with T2DM in the outpatient department of Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital between September 2016 and March 2017 were selected as study subjects and were divided into severe (58 cases) and mild groups (52 cases) according to T2DM severity. Patients in the severe group were followed up for 12 weeks. An additional 60 healthy individuals were selected to serve as the normal control group. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINs), fasting C-peptide (FCP), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were examined for every patient in the study. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect FTO messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression levels in patient peripheral blood lymphocytes. Western blotting was used to detect serum FTO protein expression levels, upon which the correlation between FTO protein levels and all other indices were analyzed. Compared with the normal control group, both T2DM groups showed significantly increased waist circumferences, hip circumferences, body mass indexes (BMIs), blood glucose indexes (FPG, FCP, HbA1c, FINs, HOMA-IR) and FTO mRNA/protein levels (p<0.05). Additionally, the increases presented by the severe T2DM group were significantly greater than those presented by the mild T2DM group (p<0.05). After 12 weeks of treatment, the severe T2DM group showed decreased BMI, blood glucose index and FTO protein expression (p<0.05). FTO protein expression in T2DM patients was higher than in healthy controls, with severe patients showing greater expression levels than mild group patients. FTO expression was positively correlated with BMI, waist circumference, chest circumference, FPG, FCP, HbA1c, FINs and HOMA-IR. Therefore, FTO expression can serve as a marker for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of T2DM.