title: Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and the development of diabetic nephropathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and the development of diabetic nephropathy
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Intron 4 insertion/deletion polymorphism of the constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) gene may be related to diabetic nephropathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study was performed in three groups of Japanese patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which including 123 patients with advanced diabetic nephropathy, 107 patients with overt proteinuria and normal serum creatinine level, and a control group of 203 patients with normal renal function despite having diabetes for over 10 years. Additionally, logistic regression analysis was used to assess the findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When we examined the a-deletion/b-insertion in intron 4 of ecNOS gene, the genotype and allele frequencies were not significantly different between the patients with advanced diabetic nephropathy (a/a 2.4, a/b 21.9, b/b 75.5, 'a' 13.4, 'b' 86.6%), the patients with overt proteinuria (a/a 2.8, a/b 15.8, b/b 81.4, 'a' 10.7, 'b' 89.3%) and the control group (a/a 1.4, a/b 21.6, b/b 76.8, 'a' 12.8, 'b' 87.7%). Logistic regression analysis showed that the ecNOS intron4 a-allele frequency was not the related to nephropathy (P = 0.88).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that there is no association of the ecNOS gene polymorphism with the development of diabetic nephropathy in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Metabolism and Endocrinology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Hongo 3-1-1, Bunkyo, Zip# 113-8421 Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Tomio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Onuma
authors.forename: Ryuzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawamori
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Makita
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomino
mesh_terms: D000419:Albuminuria / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017931:DNA Primers; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; C496314:NOS3 protein, human; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III