MIF 173 G>C variation was associated with depressive disorder in type 2 diabetes in an Iranian population

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a continuous metabolic disease linked with increased rate of mortality and morbidity. High levels of glucose can damage organs including kidneys, eyes, and the nervous system. Individuals with T2DM have a high prevalence of major depression. One possible question we aimed to address was the extent of co-occurrence of diabetes and depression resulting from correlated genetic risk factors.

Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the possible associations between the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) functional variant and the risk of developing depression in T2DM patients.

Patients and methods: The study groups consisted of 120 patients with T2DM and comorbid depression and 120 patients with T2DM, without depression, who were recruited from the same region. Genotyping of the MIF -173 G > C (rs755622) variant was performed using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). In addition, the level of MIF expression was comparatively evaluated in both groups by quantitative real-time PCR.

Result: The data showed that the presence of C allele (GC + CC vs. GG) might predispose females to depression in patients with T2DM. In addition, patients with T2DM carrying at least one C allele showed significantly elevated levels of MIF RNA expression in comparison to individuals with GG genotype.

Conclusion: MIF variant could be considered as a factor making female patients with T2DM vulnerable to depression. So, this might be an important result for precise diagnosis and/or earlier treatment.

Keywords: Depression; Expression; Macrophage migration inhibitory factor; Single nucleotide polymorphism; Type 2 diabetes.