Hormones 2012, 11(1):70-76

Margarita Vlassi,^1,2 Maria Gazouli,³ George Paltoglou,¹ Panagiotis Christopoulos,¹ Lina Florentin,² Georgia Kassi,⁴ George Mastorakos¹

¹Endocrine Unit, 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, “Aretaieion” University Hospital, Athens Medical School, ²Alfalab, Molecular Biology and Cytogenetics Center, ³Laboratory of Biology, University of Athens, School of Medicine University of Athens, ⁴Department of Endocrinology, “Alexandra” General Hospital of Athens, Greece

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and the variants rs10830963 and rs1387153 in the MTNR1B locus in a sample of the Greek population. DESIGN: One hundred seventy-five unrelated pregnant Greek women (77 with GDM and 98 non-diabetic control subjects) were enrolled and the SNaPshot method was employed in order to investigate the association between GDM and the variants rs10830963 and rs1387153 in the MTNR1B locus. Pregnant women were screened for GDM at the 26th week with the 75 g glucose oral glucose tolerance test according to the American Diabetes Association criteria. RESULTS: The GG genotype and the G-allele of the rs10830963 (C/G) variant was found to be positively associated with a significantly increased risk for GDM (p = 0.047 and p = 0.012, respectively). No differences in fasting glucose and insulin levels were found between GDM patients with and without the studied variants. The MTNR1B locus (rs10830963 C/G) seems to predispose for GDM in Greek pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the association of GDM with the rs10830963 (C/G) variant in a sample of the Greek population. Population based whole genome screening studies and larger studies with detailed phenotypic data in patients with GDM are needed to address the clinical significance of this finding.

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