Lipoprotein Lipase Gene Linked to Insulin Resistance

A recent study has found that insulin resistance, a syndrome closely linked to the development of diabetes and heart disease, is controlled by variations in the gene for lipoprotein lipase (LDP).

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai Hospital (Los Angeles, CA, USA) and the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), studied a large family-based population of Mexican Americans, a group with a higher-than-average incidence of insulin resistance. The population comprised 291 adult offspring of parents with documented heart disease (112 men and 179 women). They were tested for glucose tolerance by the glucose clamp method, and the DNA profile of each individual was established. Eight different LDP haplotypes were found. Haplotypes are alternative forms of the genotype of a gene complex.

Results published in the January 2004 issue of Diabetes revealed that 40 patients carried haplotype 4, the gene marker linked to insulin resistance, while 239 carried haplotype 1, which was associated with a low level of insulin resistance.

"This is the first study to definitively show that LPL is a gene for common insulin resistance,” explained senior author Dr. Jerome I. Rotter, director of the division of medical genetics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Our study showed that two separate haplotypes of LPL were linked to low or high levels of insulin resistance, confirming that the LPL gene plays a role in determining insulin resistance in this population of Mexican Americans.”




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Cedars-Sinai Hospital
University of California, Los Angeles