ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association between the C311S polymorphism of paraoxonase 2 (PON2) gene and ischemic stroke in Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A case-control study of 279 Chinese subjects (including 162 T2DM with or without ischemic stroke and 117 non-diabetic control) was performed. Genotype frequencies of C311S polymorphism were studied by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) analysis with DdeI digestion.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>C311S polymorphism of PON2 gene was detected in Chinese with the C/S allele frequencies 0.145 and 0.855. The frequency distribution showed significant difference between Chinese and Asian Indian. Furthermore, the genotype distribution (SS, CS and CC) of the PON2 C311S gene polymorphism exhibited a significant difference between T2DM patients complicated with ischemic stroke and T2DM without ischemic stroke, the former had a significantly higher C allele frequency(P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The above data indicate that the polymorphism at codon 311(Cys --> Ser)in the PON2 gene is associated with ischemic morbidity in Chinese T2DM patients and C allele might be a risk factor.</p>