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Vendaval -> "New diabetes genetic risk factors found" (4/27/2007 2:39:41 PM)
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"New diabetes genetic risk ractors found"
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
Fri Apr 27, 2:25 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Scientists have found clusters of new gene variants that raise the risk of Type 2 diabetes — and how the researchers did it is as important as what they found.
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With Type 2 diabetes, the body gradually loses its ability to use insulin, a hormone key for turning blood sugar into insulin. It is a major cause of heart disease, as high blood sugar damages blood vessels, and leads to kidney failure, blindness and amputations.
Obesity and lack of exercise are chief risk factors. But heredity is involved, too: People with an affected parent or sibling are at 3.5 times greater risk of developing diabetes than people from diabetes-free families.
The new work scanned DNA to find patterns of small gene variations known as SNPs (pronounced "snips") more common in diabetics. SNPs can serve as signposts for tracing disease-promoting genes. To be certain the implicated SNPs were involved, the researchers then checked for them in still more volunteers, ultimately testing DNA from 32,500 people in Britain, Finland, Poland, Sweden and the U.S.
The highest-risk variants can increase by 20 percent someone's odds of developing Type 2 diabetes, the teams reported.
Among the genes implicated:
_One that helps pump zinc into insulin-producing pancreatic cells, raising questions about the metal's role in insulin secretion.
_A pair previously linked only to certain cancers, another brand new area for diabetes researchers to probe.
_A region of chromosome 11 where genes of any sort had never been described."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/diabetes_genes;_ylt=AsbiQKYyIxmWlHzu8n9F2bms0NUE
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