Gestational diabetes is blood sugar elevation during pregnancy and exposes women to the risk for development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in later years of life. The LEP rs7799039 (2548G/A) polymorphis m in the 5´ region of the LEP gene was reported not only to be associated with overweight but also to have a strong influence on leptin gene expression and adipose tissue secretion. The aim of this study is to evaluate the distribution of LEP rs7799039 (2548G/A) polymorphis m and its plasma level in patients with gestational Diabetes Mellitus. This s tudy was carried out on160 subjects divided into 2 groups; 80 patients with GDM (g roup I) and 80 healthy subjects served as controls (group II). All studied subjects were submitted to full h istory taking, general clin ical examination and laboratory investigations including fasting and 2 hour post prandial blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC),triglycerides (TG), HDLc, LDLc, g lycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), p lasma leptin, fasting serum insulin, HOMA-IR and Genotyping of LEP rs 7799039 (2548G/A) poly morphis m was analyzed by the TaqMan allelic Discrimination Assay Technique. Results showed significant statistical differences between the two studied groups regarding family history and BMI. Significant statistical difference between group (I) and group (II) regarding plas ma leptin level (P value <0.001), serum insulin (P value <0.001), insulin resistance (P value <0.001) and LEP rs 7799039 (2548G/A) genotype distribution with increased frequency of the AG and AA genotype in patients with gestational diabetes (P value <0.001) and increased frequency of GG genotype in controls. Conclusion: This results indicate that leptin plays a role in increasing insulin sensitivity, LEP rs7799039 (2548G/A) and its plasma level can contribute to susceptibility to GDM and might be used for screening of the early detection of GDM.

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