The association of ghrelin -501A/C polymorphism with ghrelin and leptin levels in nonobese Saudi Population with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Saudi Arabia is one of the three of the world’s top 10 countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Ghrelin is a gut–brain endogenous peptide, and the genetic variations within the gene have been associated with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Aims and Objective: To study the association of ghrelin -501A/C polymorphism with ghrelin and leptin levels in nonobese Saudi population with T2DM. Materials and Methods: Eighty unrelated Saudi subjects with diabetes and 56 healthy controls were recruited. Single nucleopeptide polymorphism (SNP) -501A/C (rs26802) of the ghrelin gene was genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Individuals were phenotypically characterized by body mass index, lipids, glucose, blood pressure, and leptin and ghrelin levels. Results: No significant difference in the -501A/C genotype distributions and allele frequency was observed between T2DM and control subjects (both P > 0.05). Plasma ghrelin was negatively correlated with serum glucose, triglycerides, and total cholesterol in Saudi patients with diabetes. However, in control persons, no significant correlation was observed. In T2DM group, the 501A/A and 501A/C genotypes were associated significantly with lower plasma levels of ghrelin compared with C/C mutant homozygotes (P = 0.031), while the polymorphism was not associated with the lipid profile, leptin levels, or blood pressure. Conclusions: Although, the plasma levels of ghrelin were lower in A carriers compared with C/C mutant homozygotes and A carriers were associated with lower ghrelin levels, the ghrelin gene -501A/C polymorphism has no significant relationship with the susceptibility of T2DM in the Saudi patients with diabetes.