Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cataract is the leading cause of bilateral blindness in India. It has been reported that cataract is responsible for 50-80% of the bilaterally blind in the country. Cataract formation is a natural part of the ageing process. At present, adequate data are not available regarding the FABP2 and PPARG2 gene polymorphisms and their susceptibility with cataract cases in the North Indian population. Thus, the present study was carried out to investigate the association of FABP2 and PPARG2 gene polymorphisms with cataract cases and controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study includes 130 cataract cases and 118 controls. FABP2 and PPARG2 gene polymorphisms in cases and controls were evaluated by PCR-RFLP. RESULTS: Frequencies of Ala54Ala, Ala54Thr and Thr54Thr genotypes in FABP2 gene in cataract cases and controls were 50.76%, 39.23%, 10% and 25.42%, 61.86%, 12.71% respectively. The PPARG2 gene CC, CG, GG genotype frequencies were 11.53%, 87.69% and 0.76% in cases and 21.18%, 39.83% and 38.98% in healthy controls respectively. Significant differences were observed in the frequencies of FABP2 Ala54Ala, Ala54Thr genotype (p < 0.05) and PPARG2 CC, CG, GG genotype (p < 0.05) between cases and controls. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that FABP2 and PPARG2 gene polymorphisms can be an informative marker for early identification of population at risk of cataract. The potential role of FABP2 and PPARG2 gene polymorphisms as a marker of susceptibility to cataract needs further studies in a larger number of patients.