Background: An association of variations in the calpain-10 gene (CAPN10) with type 2 diabetes was originally reported in Mexican Americans. However, some studies in other racial groups were contradictory.
Methods: We studied the influence of genotypes and haplotype combinations (haplogenotypes) of CAPN10 on the metabolic traits in 286 Japanese subjects who visited a General Health Check-up Center.
Results: As for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-19, subjects with genotype 22 had higher body mass index (BMI) and hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) levels than those with genotypes 11 and 12 (p=0.003 and p=0.024, respectively). In SNP-63, subjects with genotype 11 had higher BMI and HbA(1c) levels than those with genotypes 12 and 22 (p=0.003 and p=0.045, respectively). Subjects who had genotype 22 at SNP-19 always had genotype 11 at SNP-63. Subjects with haplogenotype 121/121 had higher BMI levels (p=0.021) and tended to have higher HbA(1c) levels (p=0.08) than those with other haplogenotypes. All things considered, SNP-19 genotype 22, which was composed of haplogenotype 121/121 and 121/221, had highest significance level of association with elevated HbA(1c) levels. SNP-43 did not affect metabolic traits in our subjects. Subjects with haplogenotype 112/121 rather showed lower BMI and HbA(1c) levels (p=0.016 and p=0.008) than those with all other haplogenotypes.
Conclusions: These results indicate the contribution of SNP-19 in CAPN10 to mild obesity and glucose intolerance in Japanese.