Premium
Gene expression of enzymes in the O‐GlcNAcylation pathway in type 2 diabetics vs. non‐diabetics (LB540)
Author(s) -
Gan Kevin,
Hsu Tiffany,
Ngo Cynthia,
Phuong Patrick,
Gonzalez, Moises Moises,
Suarez Jorge,
Fricovsky Eduardo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.lb540
Subject(s) - diabetes mellitus , gene expression , medicine , gene , type 2 diabetes , endocrinology , enzyme , disease , biology , genetics , biochemistry
Protein O‐GlcNAcylation has been shown to play a major role in the development of type 2 diabetes and diabetic complications. This study is investigating differences of gene expression of proteins involved in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) in patients using a non‐invasive technique. We aim to compare the relative changes in gene expression of HBP enzymes in type 2 diabetics versus non‐diabetics. We hypothesized that type 2 diabetics have a higher gene expression of these enzymes than non‐diabetics. Patients from the UCSD Free Clinic consented to take part in the study. They were asked to fill out a demographic, current disease states and past family history of diabetes survey. Afterwards, they had their cheek swabbed to collect buccal epithelial cells processed and frozen for analysis. Gene expression was quantified using Real‐Time PCR and the respective enzyme primers. PeriPrimer software determined the relative amount of gene expression and were normalized to the abundance of beta actin mRNA. A two‐group mean comparison t‐test was performed to determine the difference in amount of gene expression between diabetics and non‐diabetic patients with a statistical significance at p < 0.05. Eighty‐two patients participated in the study with fifteen patients who were diabetic. Power was calculated to be 39.51%. The results showed changes in genetic expression of O‐GlcNAc transferase (p <0.05). Despite the small sample size of diabetic patients, and lower power, we observed a significant difference in gene expression between diabetics and non‐diabetics. Potentially these changes in gene expression can be utilized as biomarkers to assess the status of diabetes using a non‐invasive technique.