Background & objectives : CXCL5, also known as epithelial cell-derived neutrophil-activating peptide (ENA-78), is a chemokine that has a role in some diseases. CXCL5 blocks insulin signaling by activating the Jak2/STAT5/SOCS2 pathway. It is reported the association between -156G>C (rs352046) polymorphism in the promoter region and diabetes. The aim of this study was to examine whether there is an association between this polymorphism and diabetes mellitus in Ardabil province population.

  Methods : A total of 100 patients affected diabetes were recruited from Ardabil province population 100 healthy control subjects also were recruited from the same area. The region containing the CXCL5 - 156G>C polymorphism was genotyped by PCR amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and allele frequency data were analyzed using Fisher test.

  Results : The results show a higher frequency of carrying both the G/G and G/C genotype in patients with diabetes compared with healthy controls (p-value=0.01 and 0.006, respectively). In addition, the frequency of allele C was significantly increased (p-value = 0.028) in patients with diabetes (25.5%) compared with controls (12%).

  Conclusions : Our findings suggest a role of CXCL5 in the pathogenesis of diabetes. Also, replications in other populations with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these findings.