• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: The functional "KL-VS" variant of KLOTHO is not associated with type 2 diabetes in 5028 UK Caucasians
  • Contributor: Freathy, Rachel M; Weedon, Michael N; Melzer, David; Shields, Beverley; Hitman, Graham A; Walker, Mark; McCarthy, Mark I; Hattersley, Andrew T; Frayling, Timothy M
  • imprint: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2006
  • Published in: BMC Medical Genetics
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1186/1471-2350-7-51
  • ISSN: 1471-2350
  • Keywords: Genetics (clinical) ; Genetics
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Klotho has an important role in insulin signalling and the development of ageing-like phenotypes in mice. The common functional "KL-VS" variant in the <jats:italic>KLOTHO</jats:italic> (<jats:italic>KL</jats:italic>) gene is associated with longevity in humans but its role in type 2 diabetes is not known. We performed a large case-control and family-based study to test the hypothesis that KL-VS is associated with type 2 diabetes in a UK Caucasian population.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We genotyped 1793 cases, 1619 controls and 1616 subjects from 509 families for the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) F352V (rs9536314) that defines the KL-VS variant. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between cases and controls. Family-based analysis was used to test for over- or under-transmission of V352 to affected offspring.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Despite good power to detect odds ratios of 1.2, there were no significant associations between alleles or genotypes and type 2 diabetes (V352 allele: odds ratio = 0.96 (0.84–1.09)). Additional analysis of quantitative trait data in 1177 healthy control subjects showed no association of the variant with fasting insulin, glucose, triglycerides, HDL- or LDL-cholesterol (all <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> &gt; 0.05). However, the HDL-cholesterol levels observed across the genotype groups showed a similar, but non-significant, pattern to previously reported data.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>This is the first large-scale study to examine the association between common functional variation in <jats:italic>KL</jats:italic> and type 2 diabetes risk. We have found no evidence that the functional KL-VS variant is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in a large UK Caucasian case-control and family-based study.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
  • Access State: Open Access