SNPs in KCNQ1 are associated with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in East Asian and European populations

Abstract

We conducted a genome-wide association study using 207,097 SNP markers in Japanese individuals with type 2 diabetes and unrelated controls, and identified KCNQ1 (potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1) to be a strong candidate for conferring susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. We detected consistent association of a SNP in KCNQ1 (rs2283228) with the disease in several independent case-control studies (additive model P = 3.1 × 10 -12; OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.18-1.34). Several other SNPs in the same linkage disequilibrium (LD) block were strongly associated with type 2 diabetes (additive model: rs2237895, P = 7.3 × 10-9; OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.20-1.45, rs2237897, P = 6.8 × 10-13; OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.29-1.55). The association of these SNPs with type 2 diabetes was replicated in samples from Singaporean (additive model: rs2237895, P = 8.5 × 10 -3; OR = 1.14, rs2237897, P = 2.4 × 10-4; OR = 1.22) and Danish populations (additive model: rs2237895, P = 3.7 × 10 -11; OR = 1.24, rs2237897, P = 1.2 × 10-4; OR = 1.36). © 2008 Nature Publishing Group.