OBJECTIVE: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease characterized by insulin resistance in the target tissue of insulin with insufficient insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells. Src homology 2-containing 5'-inositol phosphatase 2 (SHIP2) is a lipid phosphatase that hydrolyzes PI3-kinase product PI(3,4,5) P3 to PI(3,4) P2, which contributes to the negative regulation of insulin signaling both in vitro and in vivo. Some polymorphisms of SHIP2 have been reported to be associated with the metabolic syndrome including T2DM and hypertension in British, French and Japanese T2DM population. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In our present study, we investigated the relation between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on SHIP2 gene and the pathogenesis of T2DM in Chinese Han population. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that the genotype and allele frequency of SHIP2 (+1893CC/AA) locus in T2DM patients showed significantly different from between the healthy control population. In addition, the G allele of SHIP2 (+2945A/G) seemed to increase the susceptibility to hypertension for T2DM patients.