Haptoglobin polymorphism in Mongolian population: comparison of the two genotyping methods.

Background: Haptoglobin (Hp) polymorphisms have been suggested to be associated with many pathological conditions including cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and type 2 diabetes.
Methods: We examined the association between HP genotypes and type 2 diabetes or anthropometric and clinical features in 946 Mongolians. HP genotypes were determined by two methods, TaqMan-based real-time PCR and conventional PCR. Hp phenotyping was also performed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and peroxidase staining in a few selected samples.
Results: The 2 HP genotyping methods showed consistent results in 943 of 946 samples. Three samples that showed different results in the 2 PCR methods were determined to be heterozygous for the Hp Johnson allele by phenotyping. We did not find any association between HP genotypes and type 2 diabetes or the anthropometric and clinical features examined in the population studied.
Conclusions: TaqMan-based HP genotyping is reliable and will be useful for high-throughput association studies. Further studies of large numbers of subjects and functional differences in Hp types are needed.