Genetic Link to Diabetes Identified
A person's risk of developing the more common form of diabetes may be predicted by testing the chemical makeup of two genes, according to researchers.
A 12-year study of 2,293 people in Finland found that having particular variations of two genes increased an individual's odds of developing Type 2 diabetes – the type which typically occurs in middle age. The study, led by Leif Groop, an endocrinologist at Lund University's Malmo hospital in Sweden, was published in the online journal PLoS Medicine.
The researchers said the disease can be predicted by testing for specific versions of a gene called PPARG, which regulates fat tissue, and another called CAPN10, which modifies certain proteins. Differing versions of genes give rise to different traits. Specific gene versions can make people more or less susceptible to disease.
Genes aren't the only contributor to the disease. Obesity also appeared to raise the chances of developing diabetes; the scientists said in the journal, which is published by Public Library of Science, a San Francisco nonprofit organization.
In previous studies, several other gene variations have been associated with a higher risk of developing the disease. In March 2004, two international research teams, writing in the journal Diabetes, reported finding that variants in a gene called HNF4A may also predispose people to Type 2 diabetes. The HNF4A gene helps regulate cells in the pancreas, influencing the secretion of insulin.
Diabetes ranks sixth among leading causes of death in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diabetics have difficulty converting food into energy because of an inability to produce insulin or don't properly use the insulin they make.
|
