Taiwanese researchers, working in collaboration with an international team, have identified eight genes that could predict the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.
Through meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies — an approach that scans complete sets of DNA or genomes in different individuals for genetic variations associated with a particular disease — of more than 50,000 people and three stages of case selection, the Asia Genetic Epidemiology Network — a consortium of researchers from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, China and the US — was able to identify casual genes for Type 2 diabetes for East Asians, the researchers said.
The Taiwanese research team was led by professors Chen Yuan-tsong (陳垣崇) and Wu Jer-yuarn (鄔哲源), from Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, professor Chuang Lee-ming (莊立民) of National Taiwan University Hospital and professor Tsai Fuu-jen (蔡輔仁) of China Medical University Hospital.
Wu said the consortium was formed to find gene expressions for the disease that are unique to Asians, because most studies of Type 2 diabetes have focused on gene studies in Caucasians.
Wu said that the team contributed to the study by offering an analysis of the genetic data of 2,000 Taiwanese.
“There were about 360 million people with diabetes worldwide last year and it is estimated that number will rise to about 500 million in 2030,” Chuang said. “The prevalence of Taiwanese with diabetes has increased from about 4 percent in 1997 to about 6.5 percent over the past decade.”
Chuang said Type 1 diabetes, which often occurs in children, has been identified as being mainly caused by certain genes, whereas Type 2 diabetes, which more often occurs in adults, is affected by genes and environmental factors.
Wu said the eight genes identified by the research offer clues for the establishment of a model that could predict a higher occurrence rate of Type 2 diabetes, but added that more research has to be done to prove the actual casual relations between the genes and the disease.
Additional reporting by CNA
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