Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Aug 15, 2021; 12(8): 1304-1311
Published online Aug 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i8.1304
Polymorphisms in HIF-1a gene are not associated with diabetic retinopathy in China
Yue-Hong Liu, Chang Guo, Yi-Qiong Sun, Qiang Li
Yue-Hong Liu, Department of Endocrinology, Hainan Cancer Hospital, Haikou 570312, Hainan Province, China
Chang Guo, Yi-Qiong Sun, Qiang Li, Department of Endocrinology, Shenzhen University General Hospital, Shenzhen 518055,Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Liu YH is responsible for implementation of the study; Guo C and Sun YQ are responsible for the collation of data and the formation of research reports; Li Q is responsible for the design of the project and the review of articles.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qiang Li, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Endocrinology, Shenzhen University General Hospital, No. 1098, Xueyuan Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong Province, China. qianglisz@163.com
Received: February 23, 2021
Peer-review started: February 23, 2021
First decision: March 30, 2021
Revised: April 9, 2021
Accepted: July 12, 2021
Article in press: July 12, 2021
Published online: August 15, 2021
Processing time: 167 Days and 0.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA levels are increased response to hypoxia, which is mainly mediated by the binding of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and hypoxia response element upstream of the transcriptional start site of VEGF. Therefore, HIF-1a is supposed to be involved in pathology of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Research motivation

In order to find causes associated with DR.

Research objectives

In order to investigate whether the polymorphisms in HIF-1a gene are associated with DR.

Research methods

Two hundred and ninety-nine type 2 diabetic patients (128 males and 171 females) and 144 healthy volunteers were recruited to 2 groups, DNR group (diabetes without retinopathy) and DR group (diabetes with retinopathy). There are 150 cases in DNR group and 149 cases in DR group. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms of the HIF-1a gene were tested using matrix-assisted laser desorption/Ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. The frequency of genotypes and alleles, and odds ratio were measured.

Research results

There is no difference in the HIF1 polymorphism frequencies between the diabetes, DR and normal controls. Haplotype association exhibited similar distribution in the patients compared to the normal controls.

Research conclusions

This study suggests that there is no relationship between the genetic variations of HIF1a and diabetes or DR.

Research perspectives

Further research is needed to illustrate the mechanism underlying deregulation in HIF-1 in diabetes.