Role of melatonin receptor 1B gene in susceptibility to depression and type 2 diabetes comorbidity

What is it about?

Studies independently have linked variants in the melatonin receptor 1B (MTNR1B) gene to type 2 diabetes and depression, but the genetic basis for the strong comorbidity between type 2 diabetes and depression remains unknown. In this study, we evaluated whether MTNR1B variants are in linkage to and/or linkage disequilibrium (LD, i.e., association) in 212 Italian families with familial depression, type 2 diabetes, and/or the comorbidity of depression and type 2 diabetes. We tested 7 microarray-derived SNPs in the MTNR1B gene, excluding genotyping and Mendelian errors via PLINK, and analyzed the SNPs for 2-point parametric-linkage and linkage-disequilibrium to/with type 2 diabetes and depression. We identified 2 missense and 2 intronic variants significantly linked to and/or associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes; one missense variant significantly linked to and/or associated with the risk for depression; and one intronic variant significantly linked to and/or associated with the risk for both. All variants were independent.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This is the first report on MTNR1B variants linked to the comorbidity of depression and type 2 diabetes.