Gene breakthrough offers diabetes hope
Monday September 7th, 2009
British researchers have found a genetic clue to the causes of type 2 diabetes, normally linked to obesity and poor diet.
The newly-found genes seem to affect the ability of muscles to use insulin to make energy, according to scientists.
British, Canadian, French and Danish scientists worked together on the research.
In type 2 diabetes, the body continues to produce insulin but cells in the body become resistant to it. The disease has been regarded as often being a result of obesity, poor diet and inactivity.
The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, come from a study of some 14,000 people and led to the discovery of a gene called IRS1.
Researcher Professor Philippe Froguel, of Imperial College London, said he hoped the findings would lead to new drug treatments.
He said: "We are very excited about these results - this is the first genetic evidence that a defect in the way insulin works in muscles can contribute to diabetes.
"Muscle tissue needs to make more energy using glucose than other tissues. We think developing a treatment for diabetes that improves the way insulin works in the muscle could really help people with type 2 diabetes."
Dr Robert Sladek, of McGill University, Montreal, Canada, said: "Most of the genes that we've identified as diabetes risk genes to date reduce the function of the pancreas, specifically of beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin.
"IRS1 has to do with the function of the other tissues in the body. Rather than reduce production of insulin, this gene reduces the effect of insulin in muscles, liver and fat, a process called insulin resistance."
* In a second report in the same journal British and American researchers report the discovery of two new genes for Alzheimer's disease.
The discovery brings to six the number of genes linked to the brain disease.
The work was conducted at Cardiff Medical School, Wales, and Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, and involved samples from some 19,000 elderly people.
The study unearthed a gene call APOJ, on chromosome 8, and PICALM on chromosome 11.
Researcher Dr Alison Goate, of Washington University, said: "So it's a very important observation because this study is the first to provide such significant evidence of novel genetic risk factors for the most common form of Alzheimer's disease."
"A multistage genome-wide association study detects a new risk locus near IRS1 for type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia", Nature Genetics, 6 September 2009.
Harold D, et al. Genome-wide association study identifies variants at CLU and PICALM associated with Alzheimer's disease. Nature Genetics, advance online publication. Sept. 6, 2009
Tags: Brain & Neurology | Diabetes | Elderly Health | Europe | Genetics | North America | UK News
Printer friendly page