Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes increase the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension

We investigated the effect of polymorphisms in four DNA repair genes, viz. RAD18 Arg302Gln (G>A) (rs373572), XPD Asp312Asn (G>A) (rs1799793), APE1 Asp148Glu (T>G) (rs3136820), and OGG1 Ser326Cys (C>G) (rs1052133) on the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HT) in association with smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol consumption in a population from Northeast India. The study subjects were comprised of 70 patients suffering from both T2DM and HT and 83 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using ARMS-PCR for XPD Asp312Asn (G>A) and PCR-CTPP for RAD18 Arg302Gln (G>A), APE1 Asp148Glu (T>G) and OGG1 Ser326Cys (C>G). The RAD18 Gln/Gln genotype was found to significantly increase the risk for T2DM and HT by 30 fold. Significant high risk was observed for individuals with XPD Asn/Asn-RAD18 Arg/Gln genotypes. Smoking was found to be the single most important independent risk factor for T2DM and HT. This study concludes that RAD18 Arg302Gln and XPD Asp312Asn polymorphisms might increase the risk for T2DM and HT in association with smoking, tobacco chewing, and/or alcohol consumption, while APE1 Asp148Glu (T>G) and OGG1 Ser326Cys (C>G) polymorphisms do not contribute to such risk.