Association of the vaspin gene rs2236242 and chemerin gene rs17173608 variants with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Northeast Iran: a case‒control study.

Type 2 diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder caused by a combination of genetic and nongenetic factors. Obesity is one of the main causes of diabetes, and adipose tissue releases different adipokines that regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. Genetic changes in adipokines can reduce their expression or function. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the rs2236242 and rs17173608 variants in vaspin and chemerin adipokines and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and obesity in the northeastern population of Iran. This case‒control study included 200 T2DM patients and 200 healthy controls. After DNA extraction, the vaspin rs2236242 and chemerin rs17173608 gene variants were analyzed via tetra-ARMS-PCR. Genotyping revealed that the TT genotype of the rs2236242 vaspin and the GG and TG genotypes of the rs17173608 chemerin are associated with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, and there was a strong correlation between a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and the recessive model of TT vs. GG + TG of chemerin. In addition, the TT and TA genotypes of the rs2236242 vaspin in diabetic and normal individuals were significantly associated with overweight and obesity but did not significantly differ between the rs17173608 variant and the BMI. This study demonstrated that the TT genotype of vaspin and the TG and GG genotypes of chemerin may increase the risk of diabetes, and the TT genotype of vaspin is significantly associated with obesity. These results suggest that changing lifestyles might help prevent T2DM in genetically high-risk individuals. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13340-025-00836-8.