Scientists identify dozen genes linked to diabetes

A dozen new genes linked to the most common form of diabetes have been identified by scientists, bringing the known total to 38.

The discoveries shed light on the biological causes of Type 2 diabetes, which affects almost two million people in the UK.

Experts hope they will help in the search for better ways of preventing and treating the disease.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Type 2 diabetes alters levels of insulin and the body's response to the vital blood sugar-regulating hormone. Although it is known to be linked to lifestyle, diet and obesity, the processes underpinning its development are still unclear.

The newly identified genes are involved in the function of insulin-producing pancreatic cells, the control of insulin's action in the body, and the regulation of cell growth and division.

Study leader Professor Mark McCarthy, from Oxford University, whose research is reported in the journal Nature Genetics, said: "One important theme is that several of the genes seem to be important in controlling the number of pancreatic beta-cells that an individual has.

"This helps settle a long-standing controversy about the role of beta-cell numbers in Type 2 diabetes risk, and points to the importance of developing therapies that are able to preserve or restore depleted numbers of beta-cells."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The study is the largest investigation of the impact of genes on diabetes risk yet carried out.

Prof McCarthy led a consortium of researchers from the UK, Europe, the United States and Canada who compared DNA from more than 8,000 diabetes sufferers and almost 40,000 individuals without the condition.

The genetic variations they found were then checked against the DNA of more than 90,000 other participants with and without Type 2 diabetes.

Twelve new DNA regions were identified that contained mutations which appeared to increase susceptibility to the disease. Individually, their effects were small and in combination they only had a modest influence on disease risk. But the potential impact of the findings in terms of possible therapeutic developments could be significant, say the scientists.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Jim Wilson, a member of the research team from the University of Edinburgh, said: "One very interesting finding is that the diabetes susceptibility genes also contain variants that increase the risk of unrelated diseases, including skin and prostate cancer, coronary heart disease and high cholesterol. This implies that different regulation of these genes can lead to many different diseases."

Related topics: