It could someday pinpoint those most vulnerable, researchers say
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Individuals with a specific gene variant may be especially vulnerable to adult-onset, type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.
"If a person has this gene variation, then -- without waiting for the development of insulin resistance -- he or she should be encouraged to follow lifestyle changes that could help prevent the onset of diabetes," study lead author Dr. Nicola Abate, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center for Human Nutrition in Dallas, said in a prepared statement.
Because South Asians are especially prone to type 2 diabetes, her team evaluated a specific gene in three groups of study participants: almost 700 South Asians living in India; almost 1,100 South Asians living in Dallas; and more than 850 Caucasians living in Dallas.
They found that a variation in the ENPP1 gene was almost 13 percent more common in people with type 2 diabetes and in people at increased risk for diabetes.
The variant may prove a significant genetic marker in identifying people at risk for type 2 diabetes. However, more research needs to be done to confirm that, the researchers said.
According to Abate's team, the gene encodes a protein that blocks the action of insulin. The ENPP1 variant identified in this study boosts the action of this protein, blocking insulin action even more than normal.
"This study is particularly revealing because of the past difficulty in identifying diabetes-causing genes on the part of geneticists working in the diabetes field," noted study senior author Dr. Scott Grundy, the director of the Center for Human Nutrition.
The study will appear in the April issue of the journal Diabetes.
SOURCE: UT Southwestern Medical Center, news release, March 24, 2005
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