Transcriptomic analysis of patients with clinical suspicion of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) with a negative genetic diagnosis

Background Diagnosis of mature-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), a non-autoimmune monogenic form of diabetes mellitus, is confirmed by genetic testing. However, a positive genetic diagnosis is achieved in only around 50% of patients with clinical characteristics of this disease. Results We evaluated the diagnostic utility of transcriptomic analysis in patients with clinical suspicion of MODY but a negative genetic diagnosis. Using Nanostring nCounter technology, we conducted transcriptomic analysis of 19 MODY-associated genes in peripheral blood samples from 19 patients and 8 healthy controls. Normalized gene expression was compared between patients and controls and correlated with each patient’s biochemical and clinical variables. Z-scores were calculated to identify significant changes in gene expression in patients versus controls. Only 7 of the genes analyzed were detected in peripheral blood. HADH expression was significantly lower in patients versus controls. Among patients with suspected MODY, GLIS3 expression was higher in obese versus normal-weight patients, and in patients aged < 25 versus > 25 years at diabetes onset. Significant alteration with respect to controls of any gene was observed in 57.9% of patients. Conclusions Although blood does not seem to be a suitable sample for transcriptomic analysis of patients with suspected MODY, in our study, we detected expression alterations in some of the genes studied in almost 58% of patients. That opens the door for future studies that can clarify the molecular cause of the clinic of these patients and thus be able to maintain a more specific follow-up and treatment in each case.