Significant Associations between CCL5 Gene Polymorphisms and Post-Transplantational Diabetes Mellitus in Korean Renal Allograft Recipients

Background: Post-transplantational diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is a serious metabolic complication that may follow renal transplantation. The expression of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5) is inversely related to pancreatic β-cell function; thus, specific CCL5 gene polymorphisms are considered to be risk factors for diabetes. In this study, we investigated the association between CCL5 gene polymorphisms and the occurrence of PTDM in Korean patients who had undergone renal transplants. Methods: A total of 311 patients who had received kidney transplants without a prior history of diabetes were included. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the CCL5 gene were genotyped from genomic DNA with direct sequencing. Results: PTDM developed in 56 patients (18.0%). The results showed that the allele frequencies of CCL5 gene polymorphisms, rs2107538*T, rs2280789*C and rs3817655*A were significantly higher in the patients with PTDM than in those without PTDM. In multiple logistic regression analysis, 3 SNPs (rs2107538, rs2280789 and rs3817655) of the CCL5 gene were significantly associated with the development of PTDM in the codominant 2 and recessive models. Among haplotypes of the 3 polymorphisms, the frequency of the TCA haplotype was significantly higher in patients with PTDM than in those without PTDM. Conclusions: Our results indicated that genetic polymorphisms of the CCL5 gene were associated with PTDM, suggesting that the CCL5 gene might confer susceptibility to PTDM in patients who receive renal transplants.