title: Association of KCNJ11 (E23K) gene polymorphism with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in Iranian patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a multifactorial disease with susceptibility of several genes that are related to T2D. Insulin secretion pathway starts with potassium channels in pancreatic beta cells. KCNJ11 gene encodes ATP-sensitive potassium channel subunits. Some studies suggested that KCNJ11 (E23K) mutation increases the risk of T2D. Therefore, present study was designed to investigate the association between E23K polymorphism of KCNJ11 gene and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Iranian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The type of study was case-control and 40 unrelated subjects, including 20 healthy controls and 20 diabetic patients were recruited (diagnosed based on American Diabetes Association criteria). Blood samples were used for isolation of genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Having extracted the genomic DNA from human blood leukocytes by means of High Pure PCR Template Preparation Kit, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to detect KCNJ11 E23K gene polymorphism. BanII restriction enzyme was used for digestion. Data were analyzed using Chi-square or Fisher exact test or independent t-test, as appropriate. P < 0.05 was considered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the carrier homozygous for KK genotype are susceptible to T2D (0.049) and in patients the frequency of K allele was higher than control subjects (0.048).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study suggests that KCNJ11 (E23K) gene polymorphism is associated with T2DM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rastegari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rabbani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid Mirmohammad
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham Faghih
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Imani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moazen
keywords: Iranian population; KCNJ11; polymorphism; potassium channel; restriction fragment length polymorphism; type 2 diabetes