Molecular and cellular biochemistry
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Mol. Cell. Biochem. · Jul 2008
Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene haplotypes and diabetic nephropathy among Asian Indians.
Endothelial dysfunction plays a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular disease, including diabetic nephropathy. Endothelial-derived nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphisms affect eNOS activity and are associated with endothelial dysfunction. We evaluated the association of the constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene (eNOS) polymorphisms with type 2 diabetic nephropathy. ⋯ No significant linkage disequilibria were observed among the variants in this case-control study. The serum NO levels were observed to be significantly (P < 0.05) lower in mutant allele carriers ('C' allele of T-786C SNP and/or 'T' allele of G894T SNP) as compared with the wild-type allele carriers (-786T and/or 894G) within each of the subject groups (with and without nephropathy). These results suggest that the eNOS gene locus is associated with diabetic nephropathy and the functional polymorphisms (-786T > C & 894G > T) might lead to a decreased expression of eNOS gene.