Association of Genetic Variants of ELMO1 Gene With Diabetic Nephropathy in the North Indian Population

Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major cause of renal failure globally including chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Using comprehensive linkage disequilibrium mapping, we genotyped five polymorphisms from engulfment and cell motility 1 ( ELMO1) gene (rs741301, rs7799004, rs1882080, rs11769038 and rs1345365) to evaluate its association with DN. BMI was observed to be low in DN cases as compared to the control groups, which is the result of haemodialysis and high doses of medication. Physical inactivity, lipid profile, urea and creatinine were observed to be the confounding factors correlated with DN. This study comprehensively evaluated ELMO1 in DN patients, T2D without Nephropathy and healthy controls from North Indian population and revealed significant association with DN. Haplotypes G-G-C-C and G-A-T-T provided ~2-fold risk towards DN development. In conclusion, the present study suggests the significant role of ELMO1 gene polymorphisms in the pathophysiology of DN in North-Indian population.