Association of TCF7L2 rs7903146 Polymorphism with the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) Among Kurdish Population in Erbil Province, Iraq

The genetic predispositions responsible for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Middle East are poorly understood. The rs7903146 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in transcription factor 7-like-2 (TCF7L2) gene has been recognized to have a vital role in the development of T2DM disorder. The current study is the first to have researched the possible association between TCF7L2 rs7903146 SNP and T2DM among Kurdish population in Kurdistan region of Iraq. The study included 212 participants, half of them were T2DM patients, and the other half were disease-free and normoglycemic controls. Genotyping was performed by using a high throughput cost and time effective tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (Tetra ARMS-PCR) assay. The rs7903146 genotypic frequencies for CC, CT and TT were 24.5%, 69.8%, and 5.7% in T2DM group respectively, and for the controls were 45.3%, 50.9%, and 3.8% respectively. The frequency of CT genotype was found significantly higher in the cases when compared to the controls (OR = 2.53, 95% CI 1.40–4.57, P value < 0.0019), which indicated that the genotype CT showed risk with diabetes. The T allele showed a high significant frequency in the patients compared to the controls (OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.10–2.47, P value = 0.014). Our findings demonstrated that the T allele could be a risk factor for increasing the susceptibility of T2DM incidence among the Iraqi Kurdish population.