Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a well-known endocrine disorder affecting a significant number of individuals across the globe. Risk factors such as inflammation, obesity, high blood glucose level, cardiovascular disease, and genetic alteration are believed to be the reason for T2DM onset. The current study was intended to envisage the possible association between polymorphisms in the interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) promoter and IL-1 beta serum levels in Saudi T2DM patients. Biochemical parameters such as fasting blood glucose (FBS), percentage glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and lipid profile were measured spectrophotometrically. Serum insulin levels were measured using an immunochemistry analyzer. The commercial enzyme-linked immune assay (ELISA) kit was used to estimate the level of IL-1 beta in the serum samples. The Sanger sequencing method was adopted to determine single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-1 beta promoter. We observed a significant (P < 0.001) elevation in FBS, Hb1Ac, insulin, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in T2DM patients compared with control individuals. Similarly, IL-1 beta level were found to be increased by 221% in T2DM patients compared with controls. A nonsignificant genotypic association was observed in the IL-1 beta gene at the -511C/T and -31C/T positions in T2DM patients compared with control individuals. However, a significant association (P < 0.05) was observed at the allelic level. Further studies on larger sample sizes are recommended to establish the exact role of IL-1 beta polymorphism in the pathogenesis of T2DM and its genetic risk.