Association of aldose reductase gene (AKR1B1) polymorphism with diabetic retinopathy

Aims: Present study aimed to investigate the association of aldose reductase (AKR1B1) gene polymorphism (-106C > T; rs759853) with diabetic retinopathy (DR) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients from north India. Methods: The present case-control association study recruited 926 subjects, including 487 DR patients and 439 individuals with confirmed T2DM as controls (CDR). AKR1B1 -106C > T polymorphism analysis in these 926 subjects was performed by polymerase chain reaction and direct DNA sequence analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between the two analyzed groups in the age of onset of diabetes (p = 0.000) and duration of diabetes (p = 0.000). Genotype distribution of AKR1B1 -106C > T polymorphism differed significantly between DR and CDR groups (p = 0.02), however, distribution of allele frequency did not differ significantly (p = 0.19). Binary logistic regression analyses showed an association of homozygous recessive TT genotype with diabetic retinopathy (OR: 1.61%, 95% CI, 1.39-2.284, p < 0.01) in comparison to wild type CC genotype. Conclusions: These findings suggest a statistically significant association of AKR1B1 -106C > T polymorphism with retinopathy in North Indian patients. To our knowledge, this is the first report of association of -106C > T polymorphism in AKR1B1 in DR patients from India. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.