Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: Egypt is among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of the highest number of people with diabetes. Charcot foot is a serious complication that affect bones, joints, and soft tissues of the foot or ankle. Although the etiology is linked to different inflammatory markers, yet not clear. Recently, an association between two polymorphisms (1181G > C and 245T > G) of the osteoprotegerin (OPG) gene and Charcot was suggested. The aim of this study was to explore polymorphisms in the OPG gene and their possible contribution to the genetic susceptibility to Charcot neuro- osteoarthropathy (CNO) in Egyptian diabetic patients.

Methods: In this case-control study, in addition to history and clinical examination, Neuropathy was assessed by Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and Neuropathy Disability score (NDS). MRI was done to acute charcot patients only to confirm the diagnosis. DNA was isolated OPG gene polymorphisms from 50 consecutive patients presented with CNO in addition to another 50 patients with diabetic neuropathy without CNO. A matched 50 healthy group of persons were also tested as control group. The collected data was revised, coded and tabulated using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. Data were presented and suitable analysis was done according to the type of data obtained for each parameter. Logistic regression analyses was used for prediction of risk factors.

Results: It was found that rs2073618 gene, C allele is significantly associated with lower frequency in charcot group i.e. seems to have protective effect against CNO development. While the rs3134069 has shown no significant association in genotypes, alleles frequencies between diabetic cases with and without charcot groups.

Conclusion: The OPG gene polymorphisms seems to play a role in protection of diabetic Charcot neuro-osteoarthropathy in Egyptian diabetic patients. This was clear fromrs2073618 gene, C allele which proved to be associated with lower frequency of CNO.