DNA Methylation and Gene Expression in Qataris With Type 2 Diabetes

The global prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is rapidly rising throughout most regions of the developed and developing world. In Middle East countries, particularly in the Gulf Council countries, the diabetes pandemic along with the rates of obesity have risen due to the adoption of a modern lifestyle. In the Qatari population alone, T2D is highly prevalent as 18% of the Qatari adults are estimated to suffer from this disease. Consanguineous marriages, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and bad dietary habits are cited as the main causes for this high incidence rate. Chronic hyperglycemia caused by long-term uncontrolled diabetes state can lead to devastating complications such as cardiovascular diseases, neuropathy, and retinopathy. Such complications are also highly prevalent in the Qatari population, perhaps due to the relatively low adherence to clinical guidelines but vary among Qatari individuals based on their genetic predisposition and shared family environment.It is already known that inflammation is part of the complex biochemical process of initiating and further developing cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Experimental models have showed that exposure to hyperglycemia induces epigenomic changes in inflammatory pathways, which subsequently regulate gene expression leading to the development of vascular inflammation. The investigators therefore hypothesized that chronic hyperglycemia leads to altered DNA methylation and dysregulation of gene expression in peripheral blood monocytes and lymphocytes in patients with type 2 diabetes.