Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible for Diabetes

It is said that almost 26 million children and adults in the US have diabetes Researchers have identified a rare mutation in a gene that could prevent type 2 diabetes. The research that was led by investigators from the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, and the Massachusetts General Hospital was started by analyzing the genes of 150,00 individuals over five ancestry groups. All the participants involved in the research had severe risk factors for diabetes.

After analyzing the genotypes of the individuals, researchers discovered that mutations in the SLC30A8 gene that reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 65%. After this discovery, further research helped to discover a second mutation in the SLC30A8 gene that also helped reduce type 2 diabetes. The only difference between this mutation and the first is that this one reduced blood sugar levels in subjects without diabetes and had no negative outcomes. Researcher, once again did more research and found another ten mutations in the SLC30A8 gene that reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes. They found that SLC30A8 disrupts the normal function of ZnT8, which is a protein encoded by SLC30A8 that carries zinc into beta cells that produce insulin. However, the researchers have not yet said how a reduction in ZnT8 reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes.

This great discovery can actually lead to great things in the future. It could be possible to completely reduce type 2 diabetes with the help of these mutation.