A particular gene variant that could serve as a predictor for type 2 diabetes has been identified by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Their findings indicated that a variation in the gene ENPP1 was as much as 13 percent more common in people with type 2 diabetes and those at greater risk for the disease. While further studies are needed, researchers said these results suggest that the variant may serve as an important genetic marker in identifying people at risk for type 2 diabetes. “This important study uncovers one of the genes that appears to predispose to type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Scott Grundy, director of UT Southwestern’s Center for Human Nutrition and the study’s senior author. In the study available online and scheduled to appear in the April issue of Diabetes, the researchers evaluated a specific gene in three study groups – South Asians, South Asians living in Dallas and Caucasians living in Dallas. Some study subjects suffered from type 2 diabetes, others had risk factors for the disease, while still others showed no signs of diabetes or any apparent risk factors.
