Gene Analysis Identifies People at Risk for Diabetes

Researchers studying the genetic basis for diabetes have identified a group of 187 genes that are expressed differently in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, and showed that 55 of these genes are expressed in asymptomatic individuals with a family history of the disease.

Investigators at Joslin Diabetes Center (Boston, MA, USA) used DNA microarray techniques to measure the expression of over 7,000 genes in muscle tissue from normal, diabetic, or pre-diabetic (having a family history of diabetes) Mexican-Americans, an ethnic group with a very high risk for diabetes. They found that 187 genes were expressed differently between normals and diabetics, and that 166 genes were expressed differently between normals and pre-diabetics. A group of 55 genes were expressed differently in both groups.


Two of the 55 genes, PCG1-alpha and PCG1-beta, showed reduced expression that lead to the reduced activity of a larger group of genes involved in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. Many of the genes in the larger group encode for proteins in the mitochondria and are regulated by the NRF-1 gene. These findings were published in the July 8, 2003, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Knowing which genes are turned on or off in people before they develop diabetes is a key piece of information needed to solve the puzzle of diabetes, and to identify new ways to treat and prevent this devastating disease,” explained first author Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Patti, director of the genomics laboratory at Joslin Diabetes Center. "If we can identify people at high risk for diabetes and learn to prevent these changes from taking place, we may be able to find better methods for both treatment and prevention of diabetes.”



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Joslin Diabetes Center