The development of diabetic nephropathy shows remarkable variation among individuals.
Therefore, not only hyperlgycemia but also genetic factors may contribute to the development
of diabetic nephropathy. The aim of the present study was to examine the contribution
of the 27-bp repeat polymorphism in intron 4 of the endothelial constitutive nitric
oxide synthase gene (ecNOS4) to the development of diabetic nephropathy. For this
purpose, we analyzed this polymorphism in 167 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients with
proliferative diabetic retinopathy consisting of 102 patients with diabetic nephropathy
(with macroalbuminuria) and 65 patients without diabetic nephropathy (with normoalbuminuria).
The genotype and allele frequencies were not significantly different between patients
with diabetic nephropathy and those without diabetic nephropathy (ecNOS4 “b/b” 79.4%
vs. 84.6%, ecNOS4 “b/a” 20.6% vs. 15.4%, “b” allele 89.7% vs. 92.3%, “a” allele 10.3%
vs. 7.7%). We conclude that the ecNOS4 polymorphism does not contribute to the development
of diabetic nephropathy.
ecNOS Gene - DNA Polymorphism - Type 2 Diabetes - Diabetic Nephropathy - Proliferative
Diabetic Retinopathy
