Gene Related to More Effective Treatment of Diabetes

Wed, 07 Oct 2009
People with Type 2 diabetes, who have variants of a particular gene, respond more positively to diabetes drugs called sulphonylureas and are more than three times as likely to attain good blood glucose level targets than people without the variants who take those drugs, so new research funded by a leading health charity, Diabetes UK.

The results of this observational study signify that Type 2 diabetics who are taking sulphonylureas and have the gene variants could be less likely to develop devastating diabetes complications like kidney disease, heart disease and stroke .

The research was undertaken at the Biomedical Research Institute, University of Dundee . It observed 1,073 people with Type 2 diabetes who had been treated with sulphonylureas for a period of up to 18 months.

The study uncovered that 6 out of 100 people with two variants of the gene CYP2C9 are 3.4 times more likely to attain their blood glucose target of less than 7 per cent in comparison to those who did not have those variants.

This research is crucial as it highlights the effect that genetic variations can have in determining treatments for people with Type 2 diabetes.

There are more than 2.25 million Type 2 diabetics in the UK and around 550,000 will take a sulphonylurea as treatment.

The Diabetes UK recommendation is that people with diabetes aim to attain a blood glucose target of under 6.5 per cent or under 7.5 per cent if they are at risk of severe hypos. Nonetheless, targets differ as per individual needs.

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