STANFORD, Calif., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've determined type 1 diabetes might not be due to bad genes, but rather to good genes behaving badly.
Because type 1 diabetes typically runs in families, scientists have looked for inborn genetic errors or gene variants. But now Stanford University researchers led by Dr. C. Garrison Fathman have discovered the critical difference between health and disease might reside not in an individual's genetic blueprint, but in how those genes are "expressed" -- that is, how the translation of genetic information into proteins or RNA is switched on and off.
Fathman said his findings suggest type 1 diabetes might not result from genetic mutations but from differences in how normal genes and gene variants are turned on and off during disease progression. In addition to identifying altered genes that might indicate potential avenues for therapeutic or preventive treatments, the researchers said they also found patterns of coordinated gene expression that may prove useful as biomarkers of disease onset or progression.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
