Two recent studies found that RBMS1 gene rs7593730 and BCAR1 gene rs7202877 are related to type 2 diabetes. However, the association of these loci with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has not been examined in Chinese. We performed a replication study to investigate the association of the 2 susceptibility loci with T2DM in the Chinese population. We genotyped 1961 Chinese participants (991 with T2DM and 970 controls) for each of the 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7593730 in RBMS1 and rs7202877 near BCAR1 using SNPscan and examined their association with T2DM using logistic regression analysis. We also analyzed the correlation of the SNP alleles and clinical phenotypes. In additive model, genotype association analysis of BCAR1 rs7202877 loci revealed that the homozygous of rs7202877 GG carriers had significantly decreased T2DM risk compared to homozygous carriers of TT (P=0.038, OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.20-0.96). In the recessive model, the GG genotype GG had significantly decreased T2DM risk compared to GT+TT (P=0.043, OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.46-0.99). Allele G was statistically significantly correlated with TC (mmol/L) (P=0.036) and LDL-C (mmol/L) (P=0.007). As for rs7593730, the carriers of CT and TT genotype had significantly decreased T2DM risk compared to the carriers of CC genotype (CT: CC P=0.038, OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51-0.98; TT: CC P=0.010, OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.13-0.76). In a dominant model, TT+CT: CC (P=0.013, OR 0.673, 95% CI 0.49-0.92) and in a recessive model, TT: CT+CC (P=0.019, OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39-0.92). The T allele carriers had significantly decreased T2DM risk compared to the carriers of C (P=0.002, OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.50-0.86). Allele T was statistically correlated with FINS (P=0.010). In conclusion, our study showed that RBMS1 gene rs7593730 and BCAR1 gene rs7202877 were significantly associated with type 2 diabetes in the Chinese population.
Keywords: BCAR1 gene; RBMS1 gene; SNPscan; single nucleotide polymorphisms; type 2 diabetes mellitus.