Document Type
Poster Session
Department
Southern Maine Community College
Faculty Mentor
Daniel Moore, PhD
Abstract
Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disorder that occurs due to a deficiency in insulin that occurs because of damage to insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. Genetics plays a vital role in the progression of this disease. The etiology of this disease includes a genetic predisposition if there are particular alleles within the HLA class II region, a part of the human genome that encodes cell-surface proteins that regulate the immune system. This literature review looks at research suggesting that 40 or more loci confer a predisposition to type 1 diabetes. Changes in the genes that are present in the HLA region on chromosome 6 have been shown to confer greater risk of this type of diabetes. The genes that are strongly linked with this disease are HLADR, DQ and DP. However, there is also a non-HLA region that has a contribution to development of risk stratification. A combination of multiple genes was found to have an impact on the occurrence of type 1 diabetes, especially among children. Currently, there is no cure for the disease and patients require life-long insulin injections that help in the management of their diabetes. Genetics do not yet have an association with the management and prevention of the illness, but research is being conducted in order to design interventions targeting the genetic factors that may one day give the option of a complete cure.
Open Access?
1
The Risk of Developing Type 1 Diabetes is Increased by Certain Variants of the HLA Genes
Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disorder that occurs due to a deficiency in insulin that occurs because of damage to insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. Genetics plays a vital role in the progression of this disease. The etiology of this disease includes a genetic predisposition if there are particular alleles within the HLA class II region, a part of the human genome that encodes cell-surface proteins that regulate the immune system. This literature review looks at research suggesting that 40 or more loci confer a predisposition to type 1 diabetes. Changes in the genes that are present in the HLA region on chromosome 6 have been shown to confer greater risk of this type of diabetes. The genes that are strongly linked with this disease are HLADR, DQ and DP. However, there is also a non-HLA region that has a contribution to development of risk stratification. A combination of multiple genes was found to have an impact on the occurrence of type 1 diabetes, especially among children. Currently, there is no cure for the disease and patients require life-long insulin injections that help in the management of their diabetes. Genetics do not yet have an association with the management and prevention of the illness, but research is being conducted in order to design interventions targeting the genetic factors that may one day give the option of a complete cure.
