Association of the UCP2 45-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism with diabetes type 2 and obesity in Saudi population

Uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) regulates insulin secretion and may play an important role in linking obesity to diabetes type 2 (T2D) that represents a major public health problem in Saudi Arabia. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between the 45-bp insertion/deletion (ins/del) in 3′UTR exon 8 within the UCP2 gene as risk factors in T2D and obesity. This study assessed the body mass index (BMI) in 113 Saudi subjects (46 T2D, 38 obese and 29 healthy controls). The study genotyped for the UCP2 ins/del polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction, evaluated its association with T2D and obesity, and compared its prevalence with those reported for other ethnic populations. The genotype frequencies were 63% for the del/del genotype, 32% for the ins/del genotype and 4% ins/ins genotype. The ANOVA between groups and within groups in T2D, obese, and healthy controls is non-significant (p > 0.05). The genotype distributions were figured in-between compared to those ethnic populations reported in the literature. Based on this Saudi study, the genetic variant UCP2 45-bp insertion/deletion do not influence T2D and obesity risks. These results were similar, but the insertion allele was modest relative to other ethnic populations.