Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is characterized by insulin resistance. It has been described that tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance; moreover, increased levels of this proinflammatory cytokine have been reported in women with GDM. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the presence of associations between the -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms and specific haplotypes of the TNF-α gene promoter region and insulin resistance in Mexican women with GDM.
Methods: This study included 51 women with GDM and 44 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance. Measurements of anthropometric parameters and biochemical estimations were performed. We genotyped the TNF-α -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.
Results: The genotype and allele frequencies of both polymorphisms did not differ significantly between the women with GDM and the controls. However, we found that the frequency of the AG haplotype was significantly increased in the patients with GDM compared with controls (P = 0.019; odds ratio, 4.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.31-12.85). In patients with GDM, we observed that insulin levels and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance were significantly higher in women bearing the G/G genotype than in carriers of the G/A and A/A genotypes of the -308G/A polymorphism (P = 0.022 and P = 0.043, respectively).
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the G/G genotype of the TNF-α -308G/A polymorphism increases insulin levels and insulin resistance in women with GDM and that the AG haplotype is a genetic risk factor for GDM in our study population.