Aims/hypothesis: A prior genome-wide association study in Pima Indians identified a variant within the ACAD10 gene that is associated with early-onset type 2 diabetes. Acylcoenzyme A dehydrogenase 10 (ACAD10) catalyses mitochondrial fatty acid beta-oxidation, which plays a pivotal role in developing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, ACAD10 was analysed as a positional and biological candidate for type 2 diabetes.
Methods: Twenty-three SNPs were genotyped in 1,500 Pima Indians to determine the linkage disequilibrium pattern across ACAD10. Association with type 2 diabetes was determined by genotyping four tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a population-based sample of 3,501 full-heritage Pima Indians; two associated SNPs were further genotyped in a second population-based sample of 3,723 American Indians. Associations with quantitative traits were assessed in 415 non-diabetic full heritage Pima individuals who had been metabolically phenotyped.
Results: SNPs rs601663 and rs659964 were associated with type 2 diabetes in the full-heritage Pima Indian sample (p=0.04 and 0.0006, respectively), and rs659964 was further associated with type 2 diabetes in the second American Indian sample (p=0.04). Combination of these two samples provided the strongest evidence for association (p=0.009 and 0.00007, for rs601663 and rs659964, respectively). Quantitative trait analyses identified nominal associations with both lower lipid oxidation rate and larger subcutaneous abdominal adipocyte size, which is consistent with the known physiology of ACAD10, and also identified associations with increased insulin resistance.
Conclusions/interpretation: We propose that ACAD10 variation may increase type 2 diabetes susceptibility by impairing insulin sensitivity via abnormal lipid oxidation.