This study aims to investigate whether renal and cardiovascular phenotypes in Italian patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) could be influenced by a number of disease risk SNPs recently found in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In 1591 Italian subjects with T2D: (1) 47 SNPs associated to kidney function and/or chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 49 SNPs associated to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk were genotyped; (2) urinary albumin/creatinine (A/C) ratio, glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and lipid profile were assessed; (3) a standard electrocardiogram was performed; (4) two genotype risk scores (GRS) were computed (a renal GRS calculated selecting 39 SNPs associated with intermediate traits of kidney damage and a cardiovascular GRS determined selecting 42 SNPs associated to CVD risk phenotypes). After correction for multiple comparisons, the renal GRS was not associated to A/C ratio (p = 0.33), but it was significantly related to decreased eGFR (p = 0.005). No association between the cardiovascular GRS and electrocardiogram was detected. Thus, in Italian patients with T2D a renal GRS might predict the decline in glomerular function, suggesting that the clock of diabetes associated CKD starts ticking long before hyperglycemia. Our data support the feasibility of gene-based prediction of complications in people with T2D.
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