Arizona scientists join international diabetes consortium

Genetic scientists from Arizona, England, France, and China are working together in an international consortium to find the genetic cause of Type II diabetes.

The Arizona Republic reports that the effort is being funded by a multimillion-dollar grant from the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases, and will focus in large part on data from Arizona's Pima Indian population. Over half of all Pimas contract Type II diabetes-the highest such rate in the world.

By pooling genetic material from the Pimas, the Amish, family groups in Utah, the Chinese, and people in France and England, scientists hope to narrow the search to approximately 1 million base pairs of genes. Previous work narrowed the search to 25 million base pairs out of the 3 billion pairs that humans have.

Locating a specific gene associated with Type II diabetes could have a significant impact in the treatment of the disease, and provide forewarning to those with a genetic predisposition.

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For more information:

"Search on for diabetes gene," Arizona Republic, 10/19/2003