Association of glucokinase gene and glucokinase regulatory protein gene polymorphisms with gestational diabetes mellitus: A case–control study

•GCK rs1799884 polymorphism was associated with increased GDM risk in Chinese population.•Regulation of histones might affect the functional expression of human islet cells.•The sample size was large and potential confounders were controlled.•There were 6 candidate gene loci, which expanded the research scope of corresponding genes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of glucokinase (GCK) gene, glucokinase regulatory protein (GCKR) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility to GDM in Chinese population. Research design and methods. This case-control study included 835 GDM patients and 870 non-diabetic pregnant women who had their prenatal examinations at 24–28 gestational weeks at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province from January 15, 2018 to March 31, 2019. The nurses were trained to collect clinical information and blood samples. The candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs, GCK rs1799884, rs4607517, rs10278336, rs2268574, rs730497 and GCKR rs780094, rs1260326) were genotyped on Sequenom Massarray platform. Statistical analysis including independent sample t test, chi-square test, logistic regression and one-way ANOVA were performed to evaluate the differences in allele and genotype distributions and their correlations with the odds of GDM. There were statistically significant differences in age, pre-gestational BMI, education level and family history of diabetes between case and control group (P