Interleukin-6 polymorphism in Korean Obese and Type 2 Diabetic Subjects

Kim, Jae Taek; Choi, Seung Jin; Lee, Mi Kyung; Park, Ae Ja; Oh, Yeon Sahng; Shin, Soon Hyun

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Interleukin (IL)-6 is produced by many different cell types, including adipose tissue, and the release is greater in obese subjects. Recently, it has been reported that polymorphism in the 5' flanking region of the IL-6 gene may contribute to the insulin resistance and lipid abnormality. However, there are limited number of studies reported on the relationship between IL-6 polymorphism and insulin resistance syndrome. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationships among this polymorphism, obesity and diabetes in Korean subjects.
METHODS
We examined a total of 177 Korean individuals, including 113 type 2 diabetic subjects. Sixty-three subjects were non-obese diabetics (age; 56.4+/-9.8 yr, body mass index (BMI); 22.5+/-1.7 kg/m2), 50 of them were obese diabetic subjects (age; 54.8+/-10.7 yr, BMI; 27.6+/-2.2 kg/m2), and 64 were overweight or obese subjects (age; 49.1+/-11.4 yr, BMI; 25.4 1.5 kg/m2). We evaluated IL-6 gene polymorphism using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism.
RESULTS
There were 176 GG (99.4%), 1 GC (0.56%) and 0 CC (0%) individuals, and the allele frequencies were 99.7% for G and 0.28% for C. Allele frequencies of C in obese diabetic subjects were 1.02%. The frequency of C allele was substantially lower than that reported in Caucasian.
CONCLUSION
This results suggest that the IL-6 polymorphism is not associated with obesity nor diabetes in Korean subjects.