Researchers have identified four genes with rare variants that could affect diabetes risk. The data suggests that these new genetic targets could lead to drug development, and further identification of hundreds of genes in the future.
In the study, researchers analyzed the exomes—the portion of the genome that encodes for proteins—from nearly 46,000 people with and without diabetes. Unlike other studies, the data collected represented people of European, African American, Hispanic/Latino, East Asian, and South Asian descent.
The diversity stemmed from NHLBI funded studies such as the Framingham Heart Study, Jackson Heart Study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and the San Antonio Family Heart Study. Recent statistics state that over 400 million people worldwide have diabetes.
Study results are publicly available to allow other researchers to use the information. The study appeared in the journal Nature. It was supported by NHLBI, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the National Human Genome Research Institute.