Genetic and Functional Analyses of <i>MRAS</i> and <i>HNF1A</i> Genes in Diabetes and Diabetic Nephropathy

Horová, Eva; Prázný, M.; Kaňková, K.; Brismar, K.; Gu, H. F.

doi:10.14712/fb2012058030121

Folia Biologica > Archive > 2012, Vol. 58 > Issue 3 > Genetic and Functional Analyses of…

Fol. Biol. 2012, 58, 121-127

https://doi.org/10.14712/fb2012058030121

Genetic and Functional Analyses of MRAS and HNF1A Genes in Diabetes and Diabetic Nephropathy

Eva Horová¹, M. Prázný¹, K. Kaňková², K. Brismar³, H. F. Gu³

¹Third Department of Medicine – Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic
²Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
³Rolf Luft Center for Diabetes Research, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden

Received November 2011
Accepted March 2012

Evidence has recently indicated that the MRAS and HNF1A genetic polymorphisms are associated with coronary artery disease. The MRAS and HNF1A genes are located on chromosomes 3q and 12q within the regions where associations with diabetes and diabetic nephropathy occur. We thus performed genetic and functional analyses of these two genes to evaluate their impacts on diabetes and diabetic nephropathy. MRAS and HNF1A genetic polymorphisms were genotyped in 1399 Czech subjects including non-diabetic controls (339), type 1 (243) and type 2 (817) diabetic patients with and without diabetic nephropathy using TaqMan allelic discrimination. Gene expression levels in the kidneys of diabetic Goto-Kakizaki and Wistar rats were detected with real-time RT-PCR. Despite no significance in genetic analysis of diabetic subjects, SNP rs2259816 in the HNF1A gene tended to associate with diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetic patients. The hnf1a gene expression was significantly decreased in kidney tissues of Goto-Kakizaki rats compared to Wistar and insulin-treated Goto-Kakizaki rats. There was neither significant association in the MRAS genetic polymorphism with diabetic nephropathy nor variation of mras gene expression in the kidneys of Goto-Kakizaki and Wistar rats. Data from the present study have not proved any significant association of the MRAS and HNF1A genetic polymorphisms with diabetes and diabetic nephropathy in a cohort of Czech population. However, the functional analysis and the trend in genetic analysis suggest that the HNF1A gene may have primary genetic impact on the development of diabetic nephropathy.

Keywords

MRAS, HNF1A, diabetic nephropathy, type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Funding

The study was supported by the Research Project MSM 0021620807 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Family Erling-Persson Foundation in Sweden and by the postgraduate academic fellowship program for young researchers in diabetes/Lilly Diabetes Clinical Research Initiative.