Objective: To explore the relationship between microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) gene variation and diabetic dyslipidemia among Chinese.
Methods: Using PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and gene sequencing, we studied the influence of a common MTP gene polymorphism in the promoter region on the apoB-containing lipoproteins in 44 Chinese type 2 diabetic subjects and 32 non-diabetic volunteers.
Results: A common functional G/T polymorphism in 493 bp upstream from the transcriptional start point was detected among native Chinese. There were 41 carriers (53.9%) of the MTP-493 G/G genotype, 28 (36.8%) of the MTP-493 G/T genotype and 7 (9.3%) of the MTP-493 T/T genotype. The allele frequency of MTP-493 T in the diabetic group was 0.30. The MTP-493 T/T diabetic group had significantly higher TG (P < 0.05), VLDL-CH (P < 0.05) and smaller LDL particle size (P < 0.001) than the MTP-493 common genotype group.
Conclusion: Genetic variation in the MTP promoter is likely to be highly involved in the production of dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic subjects.