2011/09/07 by Anna Syreeni, Assam El-Osta, Assam El‐Osta +13 · 70 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Bioinformatics #Biology #Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes #Diabetes mellitus #Diabetic nephropathy #Diabetic retinopathy #Endocrinology #Gene #Genetics #Genomics and Rare Diseases #Genotype #Internal medicine #Medicine #Methyltransferase #Microbial metabolism and enzyme function #Minor allele frequency #Nephropathy #Retinopathy #SNP #Single-nucleotide polymorphism #Type 2 diabetes
paper · pdf · doi:10.2337/db11-0073
published in Diabetes 60(11), 3073-3080 (American Diabetes Association)
openalex publication_date 2011/09/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
OBJECTIVE: Hyperglycemia plays a pivotal role in the development and progression of vascular complications, which are the major sources of morbidity and mortality in diabetes. Furthermore, these vascular complications often persist and progress despite improved glucose control, possibly as a result of prior episodes of hyperglycemia. Epigenetic modifications mediated by histone methyltransferases are associated with gene-activating events that promote enhanced expression of key proinflammatory molecules implicated in vascular injury. In this study, we investigated genetic polymorphisms of the SETD7, SUV39H1, and SUV39H2 methyltransferases as predictors of risk for micro- and macrovascular complications in type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy Study (FinnDiane) cohort, 37 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 2,991 individuals with type 1 diabetes and diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, and cardiovascular disease. Seven SNPs were genotyped in the replication cohorts from the Steno Diabetes Center and All Ireland/Warren 3/Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes (GoKinD) U.K. study. RESULTS: In a meta-analysis, the minor T allele of the exonic SNP rs17353856 in the SUV39H2 was associated with diabetic retinopathy (genotypic odds ratio 0.75, P = 1.2 × 10(-4)). The same SNP showed a trend toward an association with diabetic nephropathy as well as cardiovascular disease in the FinnDiane cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings propose that a genetic variation in a gene coding for a histone methyltransferase is protective for a diabetic microvascular complication. The pathophysiological implications of this polymorphism or other genetic variation nearby for the vascular complications of type 1 diabetes remain to be investigated.