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Il-12可能触发型1糖尿病
http://www.100md.com 2001年1月31日
     NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Australian researchers have identified a gene that may be involved in the development of type 1 diabetes, a discovery that opens the door to new ways to diagnose and treat the disease.

    The gene encodes for a key immune system chemical known as interleukin-12 (IL-12). This chemical acts as a general of the immune system, coordinating communication between cells and marshaling attacks on foreign invaders during infections. In autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes, communication breaks down and the immune system mistakenly attacks itself.
, 百拇医药
    Studies on mice have shown that IL-12 influences the fate of key immune system cells involved in type 1 diabetes. These same cells may be responsible for the disease in humans, Dr. Grant Morahan from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues report in the February issue of Nature Genetics.

    ``The study is a piece in the puzzle and helps us link what we've learned about mice to humans,'' Dr. Robert Sherwin, president of the American Diabetes Association and a professor of medicine at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, told Reuters Health. ``Assuming it is confirmed by other studies, (the finding) will enhance our ability to predict diabetes.''
, 百拇医药
    In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Luciano Adorini from Roche Milano Ricerche in Milan, Italy, adds that the findings might also pave the way for understanding the roots of other autoimmune disorders.

    ``This finding has potential implications for the prediction of at-risk individuals and perhaps, for the implementation of prevention strategies relevant to several autoimmune diseases,'' Adorini writes.

    The study by Morahan and colleagues is the first to implicate IL-12 in the development of type 1 diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in children. It is one of several recent trials investigating the role genes play in the development of diabetes, which could eventually lead to a new understanding of the illness.
, 百拇医药
    In type 1 diabetes, immune system cells attack and destroy beta cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar. Patients with type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin dependent diabetes, are required to inject themselves with insulin several times a day, since without the hormone, blood sugar can rise to levels high enough to put patients into a coma.

    About 800,000 people in the US are believed to have type 1 diabetes.

    SOURCE: Nature Genetics 2001;27:131-132, 218-220., 百拇医药