New Link to Type 2 Diabetes Identified

Tue, 19 Jan 2010
A new understanding and possible treatment for Type 2 diabetes could be about to happen due to one of the biggest genetic studies to date discovering nine new genes linked to Type 2 diabetes .

The genes and blood glucose levels of 120,000 plus volunteers were studied by scientists from 174 research centres throughout the world. A group of genes which control the body’s response to glucose in the blood was identified.

Jim Wilson, a geneticist from Edinburgh University involved in the study, stated that: "The discovery of these new genes influencing blood sugar levels is the first step on the important journey to developing new therapies for diabetes."

This finding has opened up an entire new area of research to find which proteins are druggable. Genetics is akin to a can-opener; enabling scientists to get inside and understand what is happening.

Within ten years, the study’s scientists wish to be able to identify which people have a genetic susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes, and to have a drug available that can prevent the condition from developing.

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