Polymorphisms in and genes are associated with protection against diabetic retinopathy in a Brazilian population.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between SNPs in the and genes and diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Subjects And Methods: This study comprised 603 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and DR (cases) and 388 patients with T2DM for more than 10 years and without DR (controls). The rs639225 (A/G) and rs638203 (A/G) SNPs and the rs4324901 (G/T) and rs2507800 (T/A) SNPs were genotyped by real-time PCR using TaqMan MGB probes.

Results: The G/G genotype of the rs639225/, the G/G genotype of the rs638203/ and the T allele of the rs4324901/ SNPs were associated with protection against DR after adjustment for age, glycated hemoglobin, gender, and presence of hypertension (P = 0.042, P = 0.003, and P = 0.028, respectively). No association was found between the rs2507800/ SNP and DR.

Conclusion: We demonstrated, for the first time, the association of rs638203 and rsrs939225 SNPs and rs4324901 SNP with protection against DR in a Brazilian population.