Study Of Scots Patients Yields Breakthrough On Type 2 Diabetes

Scientists have made a breakthrough in discovering the cause of a form of diabetes that afflicts an estimated 200 million people around the globe. Their research, based on data from patients in Tayside and Fife, has identified three genes that have been directly linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes, bringing scientists a step closer to understanding what causes the complex disease.

It is hoped the results will also help pave the way for improved prevention and treatment of the potentially fatal condition. About 250,000 Scots already suffer from the disease, which costs the NHS nearly £1 billion a year – almost a tenth of its budget. Recent research suggested the number of Scots diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes will soar 60 per cent in the next ten years.

The new study, jointly led by researchers at Oxford University and the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, and backed by scientists at Dundee University, is based on examination of two billion pieces of genetic data from 6,000 people with Type 2 diabetes in Tayside and Fife.

Type 2 diabetes occurs as a result of a failure of the body to produce enough insulin to maintain normal levels of glucose in the blood. It often causes heart disease and stroke, as well as blindness and kidney failure. The three “high-risk” genes identified in the study brings to nine the number of genes linked to the onset of the disease.

The same researchers recently identified another key gene which influences individual risk of Type 2 diabetes through its effect on weight and obesity.

Professor Mark McCarthy of Oxford University, one of the leading researchers, said: “This research helps us to understand that, for most people at least, an individual’s risk of developing diabetes as they get older is influenced by a number of genes, as well as by their environment. The more ‘high-risk’ genes a person inherits, the higher the likelihood that they will go on to develop diabetes.”