An association between the sarcolemmal membrane-associated protein gene and microvascular endothelial diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A preliminary case control study

Background and aims: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common microvascular diabetic complications. Sarcolemmal membrane-associated protein (SLMAP) has been implicated in playing a role in microvascular endothelial dysfunction. This study aimed to assess the significance of SLMAP rs17058639C > T gene polymorphism among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its relevance to microvascular endothelial diabetic retinopathy.Methods: We conducted this case-control study on 100 individuals divided into 60 participants with T2DM and 40 healthy controls. Patients with T2D were stratified into two groups: 40 patients with DR and 20 patients with diabetic non-retinopathy (DNR). Patients with T2DM were compared with age-and sex-matched healthy controls. Fundus examinations were conducted to detect microvascular endothelial changes. The polymorphism of SLMAP rs17058639C > T gene was identified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) TaqMan allelic discrimination.Results: Patients with DR have significantly increased glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) compared to pa-tients with DNR (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference found between diabetic and control groups regarding the frequency of SLMAP rs17058639C > T genotypes. The homozygous CC ge-notype was the most common variant among patients with DR; however, the results did not reach statistical significance.Conclusions: Diabetic retinopathy is correlated with poor glycemic control, and SLMAP rs17058639C > T polymorphism was associated with microvascular endothelial DR in patients with T2DM, although further studies with a large sample size are needed to confirm our findings.(c) 2022 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.