Published online Jun 10, 2015. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i5.715
Peer-review started: September 9, 2014
First decision: December 17, 2014
Revised: March 2, 2015
Accepted: March 16, 2015
Article in press: March 18, 2015
Published online: June 10, 2015
Processing time: 283 Days and 3.6 Hours
Diabetic complications including diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy are as major causes of morbidity and mortality in diabetes individuals worldwide and current therapies are still unsatisfactory. One of the reasons for failure to develop effective treatment is the lack of fundamental understanding for underlying mechanisms. Genetic studies are powerful tools to dissect disease mechanism. The heritability (h2) was estimated to be 0.3-0.44 for diabetic nephropathy and 0.25-0.50 for diabetic retinopathy respectively. Previous linkage studies for diabetic nephropathy have identified overlapped linkage regions in 1q43-44, 3q21-23, 3q26, 10p12-15, 18q22-23, 19q13, 22q11-12.3 in multiple ethnic groups. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of diabetic nephropathy have been conducted in several populations. However, most of the identified risk loci could not be replicated by independent studies with a few exceptions including those in ELMO1, FRMD3, CARS, MYO16/IRS2, and APOL3-MYH9 genes. Functional studies of these genes revealed the involvement of cytoskeleton reorganization (especially non-muscle type myosin), phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, fibroblast migration, insulin signaling, and epithelial clonal expansion in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. Linkage analyses of diabetic retinopathy overlapped only in 1q36 region and current results from GWAS for diabetic retinopathy are inconsistent. Conclusive results from genetic studies for diabetic neuropathy are lacking. For now, small sample sizes, confounding by population stratification, different phenotype definitions between studies, ethnic-specific associations, the influence of environmental factors, and the possible contribution of rare variants may explain the inconsistencies between studies.
Core tip: Most risk genetic loci identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for diabetic nephropathy could not be replicated by independent studies with a few exceptions including those in ELMO1, FRMD3, CARS, MYO16/IRS2, and APOL3-MYH9 genes. These findings highlighted the importance of cytoskeleton reorganization, phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, fibroblast migration, insulin signaling, and epithelial clonal expansion in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. Conclusive results from GWAS for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic neuropathy are currently lacking.