Science / Medicine : 2 Gene Areas Linked to Diabetes

Two widely separated regions of genes appear to work together to make some people susceptible to the most severe form of diabetes, says a study that could help lead to preventive treatment.

As many as 645,000 Americans are afflicted with the disorder, called Type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes.

If the genetic regions work together, it would be the first demonstration of such genetic teamwork in a human disease, Dr. John Bell of John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England wrote last week in the journal Nature.

Further work may lead to a genetic test that could identify susceptible people long before symptoms appear, allowing the possibility of preventive treatment, he said.

For the study, researchers analyzed genetic material from 127 diabetics from families in which the disease was inherited, 180 randomly chosen diabetics and 80 non-diabetics.

Scientists have long known that people run an increased risk of getting insulin-dependent diabetes if they have a certain pattern of genetic variants on chromosome 6. The new study showed that one or more genes on chromosome 11 also contribute to diabetes risk.