The first results by T1DGC have been published  The first results for the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium have been published in October’s issue of the journal Diabetes. Samples from a total of 1435 families with type 1 diabetes were analysed, most of them belonging to previously published collections (the Scandinavian (EGICS), UK and US genome scans). These were now combined and added to a new set of 254 families that were assembled from the UK, US and Australia. This already represents one of the largest studies of genetic linkage performed for any common disease. The results confirm the principal role played by the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). The MHC is a structure that allows the immune system to distinguish the body’s own structures from external intruders, such as infectious agents. This way the body knows what to protect and what to attack. It therefore plays an important role in organ transplantation, but also in diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, where certain tissues are inappropriately attacked by the immune system. The MHC region represents about 45% of the genetic risk for developing type 1 diabetes (a sibling to a person with type 1 diabetes has a 15-times increased risk of developing the disease). Other regions with a more moderate effect on the risk of type 1 diabetes were also confirmed on chromosomes 2, 6, 10 and 16. Each chromosomal region accounts for 4.2% to 6.4% of the genetic risk. One important finding was that more than 80% of the genome could be excluded for the presence of genes with a moderate effect on the susceptibility for type 1 diabetes. This means that future research can focus on other, more relevant regions. Furthermore, the inclusion of the new, ongoing collection of 2800 families worldwide (1200 in Europe) is expected to allow further identification of genes truly involved in the development of type 1 diabetes. [back to top]  [back to previous page]