Study sheds light on how genes contribute to Type 2 diabetes

Hyderabad: A world-wide study of diverse populations has shed new light on how genes contribute to Type 2 diabetes. The study titled DIAMANTE (DIAbetes Meta-Analysis of Trans-Ethnic association studies), in which Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) also participated, compared genomic DNA of 1.8 lakh people with Type 2 diabetes against 11.6 lakh […]

Hyderabad: A world-wide study of diverse populations has shed new light on how genes contribute to Type 2 diabetes. The study titled DIAMANTE (DIAbetes Meta-Analysis of Trans-Ethnic association studies), in which Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) also participated, compared genomic DNA of 1.8 lakh people with Type 2 diabetes against 11.6 lakh normal subjects from five ancestries including Europeans, East Asians, South Asians, Africans and Hispanics, and identified large number of genetic differences between patients and the normal subjects, CCMB in a release said.

“The study found population-specific differences in genetic susceptibility to Type 2 Diabetes. These results pave the way towards development of ancestry-specific genetic risk score for risk prediction in different populations and has immense implications for Indians, where every sixth individual is a potential diabetic,” said Dr. Giriraj R Chandak, Chief Scientist, CCMB, who was part of the international study, said.

---

The DIAMANTE study co-led by Prof. Andrew Morris at the University of Manchester, in which researchers from CCMB also participated, has been published in Nature Genetics.
Dr. Chandak said that the study is a landmark event where scientists from different parts of the world put together their minds to understand similarities and differences in genetic susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes in different populations. His group had earlier provided evidence of greater genetic heterogeneity in Indians compared to Europeans, which compromises our ability to predict Type 2 Diabetes risk in the Indian populations using European data.

The study sets up the stage for further investigating South Asian population for genetic susceptibility to Type 2 Diabetes and extend the journey on the path of precision medicine,” said Dr Vinay Nandicoori, Director, CCMB.