Impact of Prol2Ala variant in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma2 on obesity and insulin resistance in Japanese Type 2 diabetic and healthy subjects

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma is an important regulator of adipocyte differentiation and a modulator of intracellular insulin-signaling events. We examined the roles of the Pro12Ala variant of PPAR gamma2 in obesity and insulin resistance in 402 Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes and 116 control subjects. Among the diabetes subjects, the Pro12Pro homozygotes showed significantly higher body mass index (BMI) than those with the Pro12Ala variant (p = 0.020), while there was no association between genotype and BMI in the controls. Furthermore, diabetic subjects with Pro12Pro showed significantly higher fat body mass index (FBMI) than those with Pro12Ala (p = 0.016), while no association between genotype and lean body mass index (LBMI) was observed. Regarding insulin resistance, there was no difference in the HOMA index or in clamp index between Pro12Ala and Pro12Pro variants. These data suggest that the Pro12Ala polymorphism of PPAR gamma2 does not influence insulin resistance but body composition in Japanese diabetic subjects.