A lecturer at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Basra, Lecturer Runaq Adel Yassin, obtained a doctorate in the specialty of pharmacology at the College of Medicine at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad. The title of her thesis was (Genetic polymorphism of the organic cation transporter (OCT 1) and its effect on the response to metformin treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes. The second in Basra/Iraq).
The study aimed to investigate whether genetic variations in the OCT1 gene (SLC22A1) could be associated with an altered response to metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes and to explore the association between low functional OCT1 polymorphisms and gastrointestinal side effects caused by metformin in type 2 diabetes. It also aimed to evaluate the percentage of these OCT1 polymorphisms in type 2 diabetic patients in Basra/southern Iraq.
The results indicated that all patients with metformin gastrointestinal side effects carried similar CC genotypes, while all patients carrying identical TT genotypes had no gastrointestinal side effects. The differences between groups were not statistically significant (p value 0.745). As for Met420edel, 87% of patients with gastrointestinal side effects carried the AA genotype, while none of them carried the homozygous del/del genotype. (0.005p).