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Genes in Glucose Metabolism and Association With Spina Bifida

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Abstract

The authors test single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in coding sequences of 12 candidate genes involved in glucose metabolism and obesity for associations with spina bifida. Genotyping was performed on 507 children with spina bifida and their parents plus anonymous control DNAs from Hispanic and Caucasian individuals. The transmission disequilibrium test was performed to test for genetic associations between transmission of alleles and spina bifida in the offspring (P < .05). A statistically significant association between Lys481 of HK1 (G allele), Arg109Lys of LEPR (G allele), and Pro196 of GLUT1 (A allele) was found (P = .019, .039, and .040, respectively). Three SNPs on 3 genes involved with glucose metabolism and obesity may be associated with increased susceptibility to spina bifida.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, USA

    Christina M. Davidson MD

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 6431 Fannin #3.144, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Hope Northrup MD, Terri M. King PhD & Kit Sing Au PhD

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Jack M. Fletcher PhD

  4. Shriners Hospital for Children, Houston, Texas, USA

    Irene Townsend RN

  5. Shriners Hospital for Children, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Gayle H. Tyerman MD

Authors
  1. Christina M. Davidson MD
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  2. Hope Northrup MD
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  3. Terri M. King PhD
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  7. Kit Sing Au PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kit Sing Au PhD.

Additional information

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of health (P01 HD35946) and the Shriners Hospital for Children (project 8580).We are grateful to Drs James Hixson and Lawrence Shimmin for technical support with the SNPlex experiments, to Phong X.Tran and Chester Tsai for technical support and data management, and to Michelle R. Dewhurst for helpful discussions. We thank the patients and their families for participation in this study.

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Davidson, C.M., Northrup, H., King, T.M. et al. Genes in Glucose Metabolism and Association With Spina Bifida. Reprod. Sci. 15, 51–58 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719107309590

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719107309590

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