A Genetic Fuse for Diabetes?

According to this press release, a team of Australian scientists have discovered a tiny genetic irregularity that boosts the expression of a key gene that might lead to the development of Type 1 Diabetes.  I haven’t seen the actual paper, but any step toward understanding the triggers for Type 1 might end up being a big deal, since we still don’t fully understand what causes people to develop the disease. Here’s the summary of what they discovered:

PhD student Helen McGuire and Dr Cecile King from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research isolated the irregular DNA from mice that spontaneously develop Type 1 diabetes. They also demonstrated that it increases production of very high levels of the immune stimulating molecule interleukin 21 (IL-21). Their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), now online.

The genetic irregularity occurs in the ‘promoter region’ of the IL-21 gene. In the world of genetics, the promoter region operates like the fuse on a bomb. In the same way as you need to light the fuse to set off a bomb, you need to activate the promoter region to transcribe a gene.

“Our study demonstrates that a small defect in the IL-21 promoter region is associated with the development of Type 1 diabetes in this model,” said project leader Dr King.

Can any Sweet Lifers (maybe Rob?)  put this into perspective for us? Is it a big deal? And if so, is there a way it could affect our search for a cure?

Catherine Price

Catherine Price (www.catherine-price.com) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism

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Catherine Price

Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism