Scientists have discovered a Little over 80 Dna strand variations that supposedly rise the risk of diabetes in certain types of the human population and the same variations seem to protect others from high levels of glucose in the blood. Recently a group of scientists has conducted a study and discovered the way in which genetic variations may lead to diabetes type 2. The research has revealed that certain gene misspellings affect the way in which specific in the pancreas translate their genes.

Islets cells and pancreas

The study reports that diabetes related DNA variations influence the ability of RFX to combine to particular places in the genomes of pancreas´ cells known as islets, affecting the their functions.

Islets are the cells in charge of producing insulin and glucagon-hormones that regulate the amounts of sugar in the blood. In people who suffer from diabetes, the islets fail to function properly, leading to varied health ailments that may evolve negatively over the pass of time.

Regulatory Factor X (RFX)

This is a protein that is encoded by the RFX1 gene situated in chromosome 19, which represents nearly 2% of the total DNA in cells and contains 1500 genes that instruct the system to make proteins. The protein is structurally related to factors X2, X3, X4 and X5; it is a transcriptional activator that combines DNA as a monomer or as a heterodimer with X2, X3 and x5, except X4.

The study

Researchers examined very extended samples of islet cells of DNA from 112 individualized people.

They translated variations in DNA sequence and the modifications of DNA by epigenetic factors. As well as the levels of gene expression that indicated the frequency with which Genetic Code had been read and transcribed. This permitted to mark the traces that FRX leaves after doing its task. It seems that RFX and other factors do not connect directly to a protein performing a certain functions, on the contrary, they bind to a location in the DNA close to the gene.

It´s thought that a lethal form of diabetes (Mitchell Riley Symbol) affecting babies being born each year, might be in close relation to RFX mutatiuons. This condition, which involves the pancreas, is known to be produced by a mutant form of RFX.

The discovery is believed to open new possibilities for more individualized treatments for the disease.