Research unveils genetic link to type 1 diabetes

Cambridge, March 8: A research by University of Cambridge seems to have gained a new insight in the cause behind type 1 diabetesdefine. The study has unveiled new genetic variants known to be associated with a decreased risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D) during childhood.

Researchers unveiled a crucial link between T1D and a common virus, known as enterovirus, which is often asymptomatic.

The study published online in the March 5 issue of the journal Science zeroed in on rare genetic mutations that act as a cover against developing of T1d. These rare genetic mutations actually occur within the IFIHI gene, a common gene present in every person, revealed the scientists.

“Finding several new rare disease variants with clear biological functions was crucial. Not only has this proved that the gene IFIH1 is involved in type one diabetes, it also gave us clues to understand the mechanism,” stated Sergey Nejentsev, lead author of the study and Royal Society Research Fellow at the Department of Medicine.

Researchers of the Wellcome Trust/JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory discovered various protective T1D alleles, which hope to prove beneficial towards treatment and prevention of T1D in the near future.

“We have been able to pin-point one particular gene among a long list of candidates. Now, we and others can begin to study the biology of IFIH1 in the context of type one diabetes knowing that it is part of the cause of the disease,” said senior author of the study, Prof John Todd.

For the study, researchers scanned the whole genomes of 480 diabetics and compared them with genomes of 30,000 persons who were either type 1 diabetics or controls or family members. The results showed that four rare genetic mutations residing in the gene IFIHI help to reduce the risk associated with development of T1D.

“These new results pinpoint the IFIH1-MDA5 gene as being causal and actively participating in type 1 diabetesdefine development, and indicate a route to identifying more genesdefine specifically acting in the disease, from currently a very large list of possible candidate genes,” said Prof. Todd.

“While these results only account a very small piece of the whole picture, it is an important principal finding,” Todd maintained.

“This experiment shows the way to identify causative genes contributing to various common diseases,” added Nejentsev.

The study concluded that re-sequencing genes related with the diseases can prove helpful in finding the gene/genes that leads to the development of the disease.

Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder, causes destruction of insulindefine-producing pancreatic cells in the body. The complex disease depends on multiple genetic factors along with environmental conditions. This young-onset form of diabetes affects nearly 300,000 people in the UK, out of which nearly 20,000 are children below the age of 15.