Background and Objectives: Nowadays, every tenth adult in the world suffers from diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common microvascular complication of type 2 DM (T2DM) and a leading cause of acquired blindness in middle-aged individuals in many countries. Previous studies have identified associations of several gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to microvascular complications of DM in various worldwide populations. In our study, we aimed to test the hypothesis of the associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the VEGF (−2549I/D), RAGE (−429T/C and −374T/A), TCF7L2 (rs7903146), and ITGA2 (BglII) genes with a predisposition to DR among T2DM patients in the Kazakhstan population. Materials and Methods: We conducted a case–control study comparing the genotype distribution and allele frequencies between groups of DR patients (N = 94), diabetic patients without DR (N = 94), and healthy controls (N = 51). Genotypes were identified using the PCR-RFLP method. Results: In all cases, the genotype distribution corresponded to the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The groups of diabetic patients with and without DR did not significantly differ in the genotype distribution of the SNPs studied. Differences between both groups of diabetic patients and healthy controls in four out of five SNPs were also not significant. At the same time, both groups of diabetic patients differed significantly from healthy controls in genotype distribution (p = 0.042 and 0.005, respectively) and allele frequencies (p = 0.021 and 0.002, respectively) of the BglII polymorphism in the ITGA2 gene. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, the differences between the group of diabetic patients without DR and the control group remained significant (p_Bonf = 0.027 for genotypes and p_Bonf = 0.009 for alleles). The BglII− allele was associated with diabetes: OR = 1.81 [1.09–2.99] for DR patients, and OR = 2.24 [1.34–3.75] for diabetic patients without DR. The association was also observed in the subset of Kazakhs. Conclusions: This study shows that the BglII polymorphism in the ITGA2 gene can be associated with T2DM but not with DR. According to our data, the risk allele for diabetes is the wild BglII− allele, and not the minor BglII+, which is considered as risky for DR.

Background and Objectives: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease frequently accompanied by obesity and cardiometabolic disturbances. This study evaluated metabolic, inflammatory, and genetic correlates of overweight/obesity in ethnic Kazakh patients with psoriasis and explored potential multilocus genetic interactions. Materials and Methods: This study included 150 patients with clinically confirmed psoriasis, comprising 75 patients with overweight/obesity and 75 non-overweight/obese individuals frequency-matched by age and sex; because group sizes were fixed by design rather than sampled in proportion to prevalence, the reported odds ratios reflect within-sample associations rather than population-level risk estimates. Clinical, anthropometric, biochemical, inflammatory, and genetic data were collected using standardized protocols. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess clinical, metabolic, and inflammatory correlates of overweight/obesity. Associations between three candidate polymorphisms, rs1558902 in FTO, rs696574 in CALCRL, and rs10968110 in ZTV, were evaluated. Results: In the multivariable model adjusted for age and sex, higher triglyceride levels (adjusted OR 4.73, 95% CI 1.36–18.57), higher HbA1c (adjusted OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.09–2.91), and lower HDL-C levels (adjusted OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.18–0.66) were independently associated with overweight/obesity. In genetic analyses, rs10968110 in ZTV showed significant associations with overweight/obesity in genotype, additive trend, allelic, and dominant models, while the recessive model was not significant. The FTO rs1558902 variant was also significantly associated with overweight/obesity, with the strongest support observed under additive, allelic, and dominant assumptions. In contrast, rs696574 in CALCRL was not significantly associated with overweight/obesity. Exploratory MDR analysis identified rs10968110 as the most stable single-locus model, whereas higher-order models showed only limited additional discriminatory value and lower cross-validation consistency. Conclusions: Among ethnic Kazakh patients with psoriasis, overweight/obesity was associated with an adverse cardiometabolic profile characterized by elevated triglycerides, higher HbA1c, and reduced HDL-C. Candidate genetic findings suggest that ZTV rs10968110 and FTO rs1558902 may be associated with overweight/obesity susceptibility, although these results should be considered exploratory pending validation in larger independent cohorts. These findings support integrated cardiometabolic assessment in psoriasis care and further investigation of genetic susceptibility to obesity in this population.