Scientists in Hyderabad help decode genetic secretion behind type 2 diabetes – Times of India

HYDERABAD: A team of international scientists, including the city-based Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), has shed new light on how genes contribute to type 2 diabetes in the South Asian population. This is one of the largest research studies to understand the genetic secrets behind diabetes in Europeans, East Asians, Africans and Hispanics as well as South Asians. The global study of millions of diabetics has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. It reveals that population-specific differences have genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. The results pave the way for the development of genetically specific genetic risk scores for predicting risk in different populations. According to CCMB scientists, this has far-reaching implications for Indians, where one in six people is a potential diabetic.

They say the huge population study is a big step in understanding the risk of type 2 diabetes among South Asians.

The study, entitled Diabetes (Diabetes Meta-Analysis of Trans-Ethnic Association Studies), was co-led by Professor Andrew Morris of the University of Manchester.

According to the study, the global incidence of type 2 diabetes has quadrupled in the last 30 years. South Asia, especially India and China, are the main centers of this wave. It is thought that Indians are particularly at risk for type 2 diabetes because they are centrally obese. It is an indicator of fat around their visceral organs and is more insulin resistant from birth.

This is in contrast to the Europeans, who are generally obese in a general way. Despite this fact, the largest studies to understand the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes have been conducted on a population of mostly European descent.

Dr. Giriraj R. Chandak, lead scientist at CCMB and one of the leading researchers in India, says the current study is a landmark event where scientists from around the world have teamed up to understand the similarities and differences between the genetic susceptibility of type 2 diabetes. Between different populations.

The team, led by Dr. Chandak, previously provided evidence of greater genetic diversity among Indians than Europeans, compromising our ability to predict the risk of type 2 diabetes in the Indian population using European data.

“This recent study compared the genomic DNA of 1.8 million people with type 2 diabetes to 11.6 million normal subjects of five ancestors – European, East Asian, South Asian, African and Hispanic, and identified a large number of genetic differences (single nucleotide polymers). SNPs). Between the patient and the normal subject, “said Dr. Chandak.

CCMB Director Dr Binoy Nandikuri said recent research has created a platform for further research into the genetic susceptibility of type 2 diabetes in the South Asian population and has paved the way for the right medicine.