Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most frequent type of diabetes. It is
caused by insulin resistance and often combined with symptoms of progressive defect
in insulin secretion. Various factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis and
complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), of which, immune response and
inflammation were suggested to play a role. Objective: To investigate the association
of IL-4-590 and IL-13 -1112 genetic polymorphisms with (T2DM) in Egyptian
patients. Subjects and Methods: The study included 135 cases with type 2 DM (65
males and 70 females), with a median age of 56 years and 101 healthy unrelated
controls from Nile Delta region, Egypt. DNA was extracted by purification Capture
column kit supplied by Fermentas, K0721, USA. Polymorphisms of IL-4 -590(C>T)
and IL-13 -1112(C>T) genes were characterized using ARMS-PCR technique.
Results: The frequency of heterozygous (CT) genotype of IL-4-590 was significantly
increased in type 2 diabetic patients compared to the control, CT genotype of IL-13-
1112 was highly significantly increased in diabetic patients compared to control (85.2
vs.66.3, OR=2.9, p=0.001; 76.3 vs.51.5, OR=3' p= 0, respectively). The frequency of
the homozygous (CC) genotypes of both IL-4 and IL-13 were significantly lower in
type 2 diabetic patients than in the control group (10.4 vs. 26.7, OR=0.32, p=0.002;
20.7 vs 31.7, OR=0.6, p=0.04, respectively). The frequency of CT+TT genotypes of
IL-4 gene were higher in patients compared to controls (89.6 vs. 73.3, OR =3.2, P=
0.002).Results did not show any significant difference between allele frequency in
diabetic and healthy controls either. Conclusion: Polymorphisms related to IL-4-590
CT and IL-13-1112 CT genotypes may be considered as a risk factor for type 2
diabetes mellitus among Egyptian subjects.