ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Using genetics to predict type 2
diabetes may not be as big of a breakthrough as researchers hoped -- at least
not yet.
Although recent research has identified 18 gene variants that increase an
individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes, a recently published New England Journal
of Medicine study suggests screening for these variants doesn’t identify adults
at risk much better than screening based on traditional risk factors like
weight, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Researchers assigned a genotype score to each participant, which was based on
the number of risky gene variants each person inherited. They then compared that
number to the predictive value of family history or physical risk factors for
type 2 diabetes. Although the genotype score confirmed the role of the 18 genes
in type 2 diabetes risk, it didn’t determine who would develop diabetes
significantly better than family history or physical risk factors did.
Philip Levin, M.D., director of the Diabetes Center at Mercy Medical Center in
Baltimore, Md., who is not affiliated with the study, says promising results lie
below the surface of the study’s overall conclusion.
“It’s just going to take awhile to refine and come up with a set of genetic
variables with the [best] predictive power,” Dr. Levin told Ivanhoe. “I think
conceptually, it’s good and promising, but I think it’s a little early to try to
make an individual prediction.”
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Philip Levin, MD;New England Journal of Medicine,
2008;359:2220-2232
