- Letter
- Published:
Common variants nearATM are associated with glycemic response to metformin in type 2 diabetes
- The GoDARTS and UKPDS Diabetes Pharmacogenetics Study Group &
- The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2
Nature Geneticsvolume 43, pages117–120 (2011)Cite this article
4868Accesses
3Altmetric
Abstract
Metformin is the most commonly used pharmacological therapy for type 2 diabetes. We report a genome-wide association study for glycemic response to metformin in 1,024 Scottish individuals with type 2 diabetes with replication in two cohorts including 1,783 Scottish individuals and 1,113 individuals from the UK Prospective Diabetes Study. In a combined meta-analysis, we identified a SNP, rs11212617, associated with treatment success (n = 3,920,P = 2.9 × 10−9, odds ratio = 1.35, 95% CI 1.22–1.49) at a locus containingATM, the ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene. In a rat hepatoma cell line, inhibition of ATM with KU-55933 attenuated the phosphorylation and activation of AMP-activated protein kinase in response to metformin. We conclude thatATM, a gene known to be involved in DNA repair and cell cycle control, plays a role in the effect of metformin upstream of AMP-activated protein kinase, and variation in this gene alters glycemic response to metformin.
This is a preview of subscription content,access via your institution
Access options
Subscription info for Japanese customers
We have a dedicated website for our Japanese customers. Please go tonatureasia.com to subscribe to this journal.
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout



Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nathan, D.M. et al. Medical management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a consensus algorithm for the initiation and adjustment of therapy: a consensus statement from the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.Diabetologia52, 17–30 (2009).
NICE clinical guideline 87. Type 2 diabetes: the management of type 2 diabetes. (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, London, UK, 2009).
Zhou, G. et al. Role of AMP-activated protein kinase in mechanism of metformin action.J. Clin. Invest.108, 1167–1174 (2001).
Owen, M.R., Doran, E. & Halestrap, A.P. Evidence that metformin exerts its anti-diabetic effects through inhibition of complex 1 of the mitochondrial respiratory chain.Biochem. J.348, 607–614 (2000).
Hawley, S.A. et al. Use of cells expressing gamma subunit variants to identify diverse mechanisms of AMPK activation.Cell Metab.11, 554–565 (2010).
Donnelly, L.A., Doney, A.S., Hattersley, A.T., Morris, A.D. & Pearson, E.R. The effect of obesity on glycaemic response to metformin or sulphonylureas in Type 2 diabetes.Diabet. Med.23, 128–133 (2006).
Dupuis, J. et al. New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.Nat. Genet.42, 105–116 (2010).
Boder, E. Ataxia-telangiectasia: an overview.Kroc Found. Ser.19, 1–63 (1985).
Schalch, D.S., McFarlin, D.E. & Barlow, M.H. An unusual form of diabetes mellitus in ataxia telangiectasia.N. Engl. J. Med.282, 1396–1402 (1970).
Bar, R.S. et al. Extreme insulin resistance in ataxia telangiectasia: defect in affinity of insulin receptors.N. Engl. J. Med.298, 1164–1171 (1978).
Sun, Y., Connors, K.E. & Yang, D.Q. AICAR induces phosphorylation of AMPK in an ATM-dependent, LKB1-independent manner.Mol. Cell. Biochem.306, 239–245 (2007).
Fu, X., Wan, S., Lyu, Y.L., Liu, L.F. & Qi, H. Etoposide induces ATM-dependent mitochondrial biogenesis through AMPK activation.PLoS One3, e2009 (2008).
Sanli, T. et al. Ionizing radiation activates AMP-activated kinase (AMPK): a target for radiosensitization of human cancer cells.Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys.78, 221–229 (2010).
Lavin, M.F. Ataxia-telangiectasia: from a rare disorder to a paradigm for cell signalling and cancer.Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol.9, 759–769 (2008).
Schneider, J.G. et al. ATM-dependent suppression of stress signaling reduces vascular disease in metabolic syndrome.Cell Metab.4, 377–389 (2006).
Miles, P.D., Treuner, K., Latronica, M., Olefsky, J.M. & Barlow, C. Impaired insulin secretion in a mouse model of ataxia telangiectasia.Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab.293, E70–E74 (2007).
Trinklein, N.D., Aldred, S.J., Saldanha, A.J. & Myers, R.M. Identification and functional analysis of human transcriptional promoters.Genome Res.13, 308–312 (2003).
Fukao, T. et al. ATM is upregulated during the mitogenic response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.Blood94, 1998–2006 (1999).
Savitsky, K. et al. Ataxia-telangiectasia: structural diversity of untranslated sequences suggests complex post-transcriptional regulation of ATM gene expression.Nucleic Acids Res.25, 1678–1684 (1997).
Gudmundsson, J. et al. Two variants on chromosome 17 confer prostate cancer risk, and the one in TCF2 protects against type 2 diabetes.Nat. Genet.39, 977–983 (2007).
Libby, G. et al. New users of metformin are at low risk of incident cancer: a cohort study among people with type 2 diabetes.Diabetes Care32, 1620–1625 (2009).
Huang, X. et al. Important role of the LKB1-AMPK pathway in suppressing tumorigenesis in PTEN-deficient mice.Biochem. J.412, 211–221 (2008).
Morris, A.D. et al. The diabetes audit and research in Tayside Scotland (DARTS) study: electronic record linkage to create a diabetes register. DARTS/MEMO Collaboration.Br. Med. J.315, 524–528 (1997).
Anonymous. Effect of intensive blood-glucose control with metformin on complications in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes (UKPDS 34). UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Group.Lancet352, 854–865 (1998).
Kahn, S.E. et al. Glycemic durability of rosiglitazone, metformin, or glyburide monotherapy.N. Engl. J. Med.355, 2427–2443 (2006).
Barrett, J.C. et al. Genome-wide association study of ulcerative colitis identifies three new susceptibility loci, including the HNF4A region.Nat. Genet.41, 1330–1334 (2009).
Zeggini, E. et al. Replication of genome-wide association signals in UK samples reveals risk loci for type 2 diabetes.Science316, 1336–1341 (2007).
Marchini, J., Howie, B., Myers, S., McVean, G. & Donnelly, P. A new multipoint method for genome-wide association studies by imputation of genotypes.Nat. Genet.39, 906–913 (2007).
Purcell, S. et al. PLINK: a tool set for whole-genome association and population-based linkage analyses.Am. J. Hum. Genet.81, 559–575 (2007).
Howie, B.N., Donnelly, P. & Marchini, J. A flexible and accurate genotype imputation method for the next generation of genome-wide association studies.PLoS Genet.5, e1000529 (2009).
Aulchenko, Y.S., Ripke, S., Isaacs, A. & van Duijn, C.M. GenABEL: an R library for genome-wide association analysis.Bioinformatics23, 1294–1296 (2007).
Hickson, I. et al. Identification and characterization of a novel and specific inhibitor of the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated kinase ATM.Cancer Res.64, 9152–9159 (2004).
Eaton, J.S., Lin, Z.P., Sartorelli, A.C., Bonawitz, N.D. & Shadel, G.S. Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated kinase regulates ribonucleotide reductase and mitochondrial homeostasis.J. Clin. Invest.117, 2723–2734 (2007).
Crescenzi, E., Palumbo, G., de Boer, J. & Brady, H.J. Ataxia telangiectasia mutated and p21CIP1 modulate cell survival of drug-induced senescent tumor cells: implications for chemotherapy.Clin. Cancer Res.14, 1877–1887 (2008).
Hardie, D.G., Salt, I.P. & Davies, S.P. Analysis of the role of the AMP-activated protein kinase in the response to cellular stress.Methods Mol. Biol.99, 63–74 (2000).
Dale, S., Wilson, W.A., Edelman, A.M. & Hardie, D.G. Similar substrate recognition motifs for mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase, higher plant HMG-CoA reductase kinase-A, yeast SNF1, and mammalian calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I.FEBS Lett.361, 191–195 (1995).
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the participants who took part in this study, to the general practitioners, to the Scottish School of Primary Care for their help in recruiting the participants, and to the whole team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists and nurses. The Wellcome Trust provides support for the Wellcome Trust United Kingdom Type 2 Diabetes Case Control Collection (GoDARTS) and informatics support was provided by the Chief Scientist Office. The Wellcome Trust funds the Scottish Health Informatics Programme, provides core support for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford and funds the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2. This research was specifically funded by Diabetes UK (07/0003525), MRC (G0601261) and the Wellcome Trust (084726/Z/08/Z, 085475/Z/08/Z, 085475/B/08/Z). We also acknowledge support from the National Institute for Health Research award to Moorfields Eye Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust and University College London Institute of Ophthalmology for a Specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology (to A.C.V.). P. Donnelly was supported in part by a Wolfson-Royal Society Merit Award. K.Z. holds a Henry Wellcome Post-Doctoral Fellowship. S.A.H. and D.G.H. were supported by the EXGENESIS consortium (LSHM-CT-2004-005272) funded by the European Commission.
Author information
Kaixin Zhou, Celine Bellenguez and Mark I McCarthy: These authors contributed equally to this work.
Colin N A Palmer, Peter Donnelly and Ewan R Pearson: These authors jointly directed this work.
Authors and Affiliations
Biomedical Research Institute, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
Kaixin Zhou, Roger Tavendale, Louise A Donnelly, Chris Schofield, Lindsay Burch, Fiona Carr, Helen Colhoun, Andrew D Morris, Calum Sutherland, Colin N A Palmer & Ewan R Pearson
UK Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, UK
Celine Bellenguez, Chris C A Spencer, Amy Strange, Colin Freeman, Anna Rautanen, Mark I McCarthy & Peter Donnelly
Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Amanda J Bennett, Ruth L Coleman, Christopher J Groves, Mark I McCarthy & Rury R Holman
Diabetes Trials Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Ruth L Coleman & Rury R Holman
College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
Simon A Hawley & D Grahame Hardie
Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia
Jenefer M Blackwell
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK
Jenefer M Blackwell
Department of Psychosis Studies, National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
Elvira Bramon
The South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, Denmark Hill, London, UK
Elvira Bramon
Diamantina Institute of Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Matthew A Brown
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Juan P Casas
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK
Juan P Casas
Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Aiden Corvin
Department of Psychological Medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK
Nicholas Craddock
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
Panos Deloukas, Serge Dronov, Sarah Edkins, Emma Gray, Sarah Hunt, Cordelia Langford & Leena Peltonen
Molecular and Physiological Sciences, The Wellcome Trust, London, UK
Audrey Duncanson
Centre for Digestive Diseases, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Janusz Jankowski
Digestive Diseases Centre, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, UK
Janusz Jankowski
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Janusz Jankowski
Clinical Neurosciences, St George's University of London, London, UK
Hugh S Markus
Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King's College London School of Medicine, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
Christopher G Mathew & Richard Trembath
King's College London Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London, UK.,
Robert Plomin
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
Stephen J Sawcer
Department of Cardiovascular Science, University of Leicester, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK
Nilesh J Samani
National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust, London, UK
Ananth C Viswanathan
University College London Institute of Ophthalmology,, London, UK
Ananth C Viswanathan
Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK
Nicholas W Wood
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Lorna W Harries & Andrew T Hattersley
Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK
Alex S F Doney
UK Oxford National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK
Mark I McCarthy
Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Peter Donnelly
Consortia
The GoDARTS and UKPDS Diabetes Pharmacogenetics Study Group
- Kaixin Zhou
- , Celine Bellenguez
- , Chris C A Spencer
- , Amanda J Bennett
- , Ruth L Coleman
- , Roger Tavendale
- , Simon A Hawley
- , Louise A Donnelly
- , Chris Schofield
- , Christopher J Groves
- , Lindsay Burch
- , Fiona Carr
- , Amy Strange
- , Colin Freeman
- , Jenefer M Blackwell
- , Elvira Bramon
- , Matthew A Brown
- , Juan P Casas
- , Aiden Corvin
- , Nicholas Craddock
- , Panos Deloukas
- , Serge Dronov
- , Audrey Duncanson
- , Sarah Edkins
- , Emma Gray
- , Sarah Hunt
- , Janusz Jankowski
- , Cordelia Langford
- , Hugh S Markus
- , Christopher G Mathew
- , Robert Plomin
- , Anna Rautanen
- , Stephen J Sawcer
- , Nilesh J Samani
- , Richard Trembath
- , Ananth C Viswanathan
- , Nicholas W Wood
- , MAGIC investigators
- , Lorna W Harries
- , Andrew T Hattersley
- , Alex S F Doney
- , Helen Colhoun
- , Andrew D Morris
- , Calum Sutherland
- , D Grahame Hardie
- , Leena Peltonen
- , Mark I McCarthy
- , Rury R Holman
- , Colin N A Palmer
- , Peter Donnelly
- & Ewan R Pearson
The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2
Contributions
A.D.M., C.N.A.P., E.R.P., A.S.F.D. H.C., A.T.H. and M.I.M. oversaw cohort collection for GoDARTS. R.R.H., M.I.M., R.L.C. and C.J.G. oversaw cohort collection for the UKPDS. The WTCCC2 DNA, genotyping, data quality control and informatics group (S.D., S.E., E.G., S.H. and C.L.) executed GWAS sample handling, genotyping and quality control. A.J.B., R. Tavendale, L.B., C.J.G. and F.C. performed the replication genotyping. The WTCCC2 Management Committee (P. Donnelly, J.M.B., E.B., M.A.B., J.P.C., A.C., N.C., P. Deloukas, A.D., J.J., H.S.M., C.G.M., R.P., A.R., S.J.S., N.J.S., R. Trembath, A.C.V., L.P. and N.W.W.) monitored the execution of the GWAS. K.Z., C.B., C.C.A.S., L.A.D., A.S. and C.F. performed statistical analyses. K.Z. and L.W.H. performed bioinformatic analyses. S.A.H., D.G.H., C. Schofield and C. Sutherland performed the functional studies. MAGIC investigators provided summary data on glycemic quantitative trait association. K.Z., C.B., C.C.A.S., C.N.P., A.D.M., C. Sutherland, D.G.H., R.R.H., M.I.M., P. Donnelly and E.R.P. contributed to writing the manuscript. All authors reviewed the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Correspondence toEwan R Pearson.
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declare no competing financial interests.
Additional information
A full list of authors and affiliations is provided at the end of the paper. A full list of members is provided in theSupplementary Note.
A full list of members is provided in theSupplementary Note.
A full list of members is provided in theSupplementary Note.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Text and Figures
Supplementary Tables 1–6, Supplementary Figures 1–3 and Supplementary Note. (PDF 598 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The GoDARTS and UKPDS Diabetes Pharmacogenetics Study Group., The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2. Common variants nearATM are associated with glycemic response to metformin in type 2 diabetes.Nat Genet43, 117–120 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.735
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date: