- Author:
Yeun Sun KIM
1
;
You Jin HWANG
;
Sung Yong KIM
;
Sun Mee YANG
;
Ki Young LEE
;
Ie Byung PARK
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords: Type 2 diabetes; TLR4; polymorphism; inflammation; innate immunity
- MeSH: Adult; Amino Acids/genetics; Base Sequence; Female; Humans; Korea; Male; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation/genetics; Polymorphism, Genetic/*genetics; Toll-Like Receptor 4/*genetics
- From:Yonsei Medical Journal 2008;49(1):58-62
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: PURPOSE: Activation of the innate immune system and chronic low-grade inflammation are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and also thought to be associated with type 2 diabetes and its complications. As a receptor for bacterial lipopolysaccharide and heat-shock proteins, Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is one of the central regulators of the immune response. Recent studies have reported an association between TLR4 polymorphisms and diabetes and its complications in Caucasian populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we analyzed the association between TLR4 gene polymorphisms in patients with features of type 2 diabetes and healthy controls in Korea. Two polymorphisms of the TLR4 gene (Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile) were examined in 225 diabetic patients and 153 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). RESULTS: No Asp299Gly or Thr399Ile mutations were detected in any of the 378 subjects. Seven subjects from each group who had slightly different SSCP patterns were selected for sequencing, but we found no TLR4 polymorphisms on Exon3. The Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile TLR4 gene polymorphisms were absent in both groups, which was similar to the results for Japanese and Chinese Han subjects. CONCLUSION: Our data and other Asian data suggest that a racial difference can be found in the frequency of the TLR4 polymorphism.