Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is associated with maternal and perinatal morbidity. Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL-1), also known as TGFB-beta-stimulated clone 36 (TSC-36), is a glycoprotein cardiokine reported to be associated with insulin resistance and inflammatory processes. To date, there is no study evaluating the effect of FSTL-1 gene polymorphism on the development of GDM in the literature. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of serum FSTL-1 level and FSTL-1 gene rs12173 and rs869247 polymorphism in the development of GDM.

Material and Method: Demographic characteristic sand metabolic parameters (FSTL-1, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, HbA1c) of all participants were evaluated. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood. Genotype and allele frequencies were determined by PCR-RFLP method. The prevalences of FSTL-1 polymorphism of the patient sand controls were compared.

Results: 72 patients with GDM (meanage: 29.54±4.56 years) and 79 healthy pregnant women (meanage: 28,27±4,47 years) were included in the study. GDM patients had significantly higher BMI than the control group (27.44±5.46 kg/m2 vs. 25.39±2.96 kg/m2, p<0.001). The mean HbA1c % in the GDM group was found to be higher than in the control group (5.11±0.42% vs. 4.92±0.30%, p=0.002). There was no significant difference in the serum FSTL-1 levels between the groups (339.35±293.59 ng/mL for GDM and 414.53±364.09 ng/mL for control group; p=0.917). 11 GDM patients (15.3%) had CC genotype, 22 (30.6%) had CT genotype, and 39 patients (54.2%) had TT genotype of FSTL-1 gene rs12173 polymorphism. The prevalence of CC-, CT- and TT- genotypes, in the control group was 11.4, 20.3, and 68.4% respectively-similar prevalences as in the patient group (p:0.097). 24 GDM patients (33.3.%) had CC genotype, 38 (52.8%) had CT genotype, and 10 patients (13.9%) had TT genotype of FSTL-1 gene rs869247 polymorphism. There was no difference in the distribution of the genotypes of FSTL-1 gene rs869247 polymorhism between the groups (24.1, 65.8, and 10.1%forCC-, CT- and TT- genoypes, in the control group, p: 0.264). There was no difference in the allele frequencies of FSTL-1 gene rs12173 and rs869247 polymorphism between the groups (p=0.086 andp=0.627, respectively).

Conclusion: FSTL-1 gene rs12173 and rs869247 polymorphism seemed to have no effect on the development of GDM. Large-scale studies are needed to find out the molecular mechanisms of FSTL-1 on metabolic diseases