RAPID COMMUNICATION Analysis of novel risk loci for type 2 diabetes in a general French population: the D.E.S.I.R. study Stéphane Cauchi & Christine Proença & Hélène Choquet & Stefan Gaget & Franck De Graeve & Michel Marre & Beverley Balkau & Jean Tichet & David Meyre & Martine Vaxillaire & Philippe Froguel & D.E.S.I.R. Study Group Received: 25 October 2007 / Revised: 26 November 2007 / Accepted: 28 November 2007 / Published online: 22 January 2008 # Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Recently, Genome Wide Association (GWA) studies identified novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), highly associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in several case-control studies of European descent. However, the impact of these markers on glucose homeostasis in a population-based study remains to be clarified. The French prospective D.E.S.I.R. study (N =4,707) was genotyped for 22 polymorphisms within 14 loci showing nominal to strong association with T2D in recently published GWA analyses (CDKAL1, IGFBP2, CDKN2A/ 2B, EXT2, HHEX, LOC646279, SLC30A8, MMP26, KCTD12, LDLR, CAMTA1, LOC38776, NGN3 and CXCR4). We assessed their effects on quantitative traits related to glucose homeostasis in 4,283 normoglycemic middle-aged participants at baseline and their contribution to T2D incidence during 9 years of follow-up. J Mol Med (2008) 86:341–348 DOI 10.1007/s00109-007-0295-x Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00109-007-0295-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. S. Cauchi : C. Proença : H. Choquet : S. Gaget : F. De Graeve : D. Meyre : M. Vaxillaire : P. Froguel CNRS 8090-Institute of Biology, Pasteur Institute, Lille, France M. Marre René Diderot-Paris 7 University, Paris, France M. Marre Department of Endocrinology-Diabetology and Nutrition, Bichat Claude Bernard Hospital, INSERM U695, Paris, France B. Balkau INSERM U780-IFR69, Villejuif, France B. Balkau University of Paris-Sud, Paris, France J. Tichet : D.E.S.I.R. Study Group Regional Institute for Health, La Riche, France P. Froguel (*) Imperial College, Section of Genomic Medicine, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK e-mail: p.froguel@imperial.ac.uk STÉPHANE CAUCHI received his Ph.D. in Toxicology from Paris 5 University, France. He is currently postdoctoral researcher at the CNRS8090- Institute of Biology Pasteur “Genomics and molecular physi- ology of metabolic diseases” in Lille, France. His research focuses on the genetic determinants of type 2 diabetes and their functional consequences. PHILIPPE FROGUEL graduated with a degree in Endocrinology from Paris University. He is presently Professor and Chair of the department of Genomic Medicine of Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine at the Ham- mersmith Hospital in the UK. He is also director of the CNRS8090 Institute of Biology Pasteur “Genomics and molecular physi- ology of metabolic diseases” in Lille, France.