Association analysis of genetic variants with metabolic syndrome components in the Moroccan population

This study aimed to analyze the association between UBE2E2, G6PC2, PROX1, DUSP9, ADCY5 and APOC3 polymorphisms and the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Moroccan patients. The study was applied on 316 unrelated individuals from Morocco, 177 MetS patients and 139 controls. The metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. All subjects were genotyped for the following polymorphisms: rs7612463 (UBE2E2), rs560887 (G6PC2), rs340874 (PROX1), rs5945326 (DUSP9), rs11708067 (ADCY5) and rs5128 (APOC3) using TaqMan allelic discrimination assay and PCR-RFLP. The rs5128 (APOC3) and rs340874 (PROX1) polymorphisms were found to be significantly associated with susceptibility to MetS (P = 0.003 and P = 0.033, respectively), with odds ratios (ORs) of 4.39 (95% CI = 1.66-11.56) and 2.81 (95% CI = 1.09-7.27), respectively. Two variants presented a tendency to be protector factors against MetS risk: rs5945326 in DUSP9 gene (OR = 0.32; 95% CI = 0.17-0.62;  = 0.001) and rs11708067 in ADCY5 gene (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.28-0.95; P = 0.034). No association was detected between rs7612463 (UBE2E2) and rs560887 (G6PC2) SNPs and MetS increased risk. This study suggests a potential role of rs5128, rs340874, rs5945326 and rs11708067 variants in MetS susceptibility in the Moroccan population.