16 Apr 08

Excessive thirst can be a sign of type 2 diabetes

Researchers have identified six new genes that play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

The discovery provides valuable new insights into the mechanisms responsible for controlling blood sugar levels and how malfunctions can result in type 2 diabetes. The research may lead to new ways of treating and preventing diabetes – a condition over two million UK residents live with.

Oxford researchers, in collaboration with a team of international colleagues, analysed genetic data from more than 70,000 people to trace differences in their genetic code that make some people more susceptible to type 2 diabetes.

The findings support previous studies suggesting a key process in developing type 2 diabetes is the failure to regulate the number of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Professor Mark McCarthy, from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) and Oxford’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, said: ‘None of the genes we have found was previously on the radar screen of diabetes researchers. Each gene therefore provides new clues to the processes that go wrong when diabetes develops and each provides an opportunity for the generation of new approaches for treating or preventing this condition.’

Funded by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Diabetes UK and the EU, the findings have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.

The researchers also identified a surprising association between type 2 diabetes and the JAZF1 gene, shown to contribute to prostate cancer, creating important implications for the future design of drugs for both conditions.