Open gene diabetes of the second type

An international team of researchers from Mexico and the United States opened a genetic factor that influences the increased risk of developing Type II diabetes. Especially strong this relationship between the gene and the disease occurs in the population of Latin America.

Type II diabetes

A team of scientists from the project SIGMA (Slim Initiative in Genomic Medicine for the Americas) held the most significant genetic study of Mexican and Hispanic population, which led to the discovery risk gene Type II diabetes Which previously went unnoticed. Carriers of the most risky version of the gene is 25% more likely to become victims of this disease. And people who inherit a copy of the gene from both parents, 50% more likely to develop diabetes.

Note that this gene is most commonly found in Native Americans and Hispanics. The variation of the gene is also observed in 20% of East Asia, but among the inhabitants of Africa and Europe, it is quite rare.

"Until recently, science has mostly studied the genetics of people of European or Asian origin, which increases the risk to miss some variation of genes found in people of other ethnic groups - said study co-author Jose Flores, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. - Included in the study of Latin Americans, We have found one of the strongest genetic risk factors Type II diabetes . He will give us the opportunity to develop new methods of treatment of the disease, as well as a better understanding of it. "

Full description of the gene, called SLC16A11, as well as the mechanism of its participation in the development of diabetes of the second type described in the magazine Nature. (READ MORE)

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