Background: Genome-wide linkage studies in multiple ethnic populations found chromosome 1q21-q25 was the strongest and most replicable linkage signal in the human chromosome. Studies in Pima Indian, Caucasians and African Americans identified several SNPs in DUSP12 and ATF6, located in chromosome 1q21-q23, were associated with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: We selected 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that could tag 98% of the SNPs with minor allele frequencies over 0.1 within DUSP12-ATF6 region. These SNPs were genotyped in a total of 3,700 Chinese Han subjects comprising 1,892 type 2 diabetes patients and 1,808 controls with normal glucose regulation.
Results: None of the SNPs and haplotypes showed significant association to type 2 diabetes in our samples. No association between the SNPs and quantitative traits was observed either.
Conclusions: Our data suggests common SNPs within DUSP12-ATF6 locus may not play a major role in glucose metabolism in the Chinese.