Harvest F. Gu

Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.  

Abstract

Adiponectin is secreted by white adipose tissue and exists as the most abundant adipokine in the human plasma. Recent research has indicated that plasma adiponectin levels are inversely correlated with body mass index (BMI) and insulin resistance. Reduction of plasma adiponectin levels is commonly observed in the patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and/or in those who are obese in comparison with healthy control individuals. The adiponectin (AdipoQ) gene has a moderate linkage disequilibrium (LD), but two small LD blocks are observed, respectively, in the promoter region and the boundary of exon 2-intron 2. Genetic association studies have demonstrated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) +45G15G(T/G) in exon 2 and +276G/T in intron 2 of the AdipoQ gene confer the risk susceptibility to the development of T2D, obesity and diabetic nephropathy (DN). The SNPs in the pro- moter region, including -11426A/G, -11377C/G and -11391G/A, are found to be associated with T2D and DN. Recent research has indicated that the promoter polymorphisms interfere with the AdipoQ promoter activity. The haplotypes constructed by the promoter polymorphisms and SNP +276G/T in intron 2 are associated with circulating adiponectin levels. This review summarises genetic and pathophysiological relevancies of adiponectin and discusses about the biomarkers of adiponectin plasma protein variation and genomic DNA polymorphisms.