Premium
The insulin gene in diabetes
Author(s) -
Pugliese Alberto,
Miceli Donatella
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
diabetes/metabolism research and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.307
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1520-7560
pISSN - 1520-7552
DOI - 10.1002/dmrr.261
Subject(s) - insulin , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , type 2 diabetes , medicine , biology , pathogenesis , insulin resistance , gene , allele , genetics
Lack of insulin production or abnormalities affecting insulin secretion are key to the development of almost all forms of diabetes, including the common type 1 (insulin‐dependent) and type 2 (non‐insulin‐dependent) diabetes and the more rare forms of maturity‐onset diabetes of the young (MODY). Because insulin has such a central role in the pathogenesis of both forms of diabetes, the insulin gene ( INS ) has always been considered a candidate susceptibility gene. A number of studies have shown that the allelic variation and parent‐of‐origin effects affect the transmission and expression of the insulin gene in pancreatic β‐cells and extra‐pancreatic tissues. These observations have led to the formulation of new hypotheses to explain the biological mechanisms by which functional differences in the expression of the insulin gene may contribute to diabetes susceptibility. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.