Genetic variation in the visfatin (PBEF1/NAMPT) gene and type 2 diabetes in the Greek population

Visfatin (NAMPT formerly known as PBEF1) is an adipokine that is strongly expressed in visceral fat and has caused much debate among researchers, regarding its involvement in glucose homeostasis and insu- lin resistance. It was initially isolated from bone marrow cells, and its involvement in inflammatory pro- cedures such as sepsis and acute lung inflammation is now evident. Several studies have also reported an association of plasma visfatin levels with obesity. We undertook an evaluation of the involvement of the NAMPT gene in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in the Greek population. We studied 178 patients with T2DM and 177 controls that were matched for sex, age and body mass index. We genotyped three tagging SNPs selected from the HapMap II CEPH European population as reference for the Greek population. These three SNPs tag another 12 SNPs over the entire NAMPT gene with a mean r 2