Type 1 diabetes in mice is linked to the interleukin-1 receptor and Lsh/Ity/Bcg genes on chromosome 1
Article Abstract:
Human type 1 diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes and juvenile diabetes. Evidence indicates that type 1 diabetes is the result of both environmental and genetic factors. It is clear that the disease results from the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the islets of Langerhans by cells of the patient's own immune system. Many researchers believe that an infection that has not yet been identified, perhaps a viral infection, causes the immune system of genetically susceptible individuals to begin a sequence of events that ultimately results in autoimmune destruction of islet cells. Findings in both humans and mice indicate that genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play an important role in this process, as they do in so many other aspects of immune function. Genetic factors are easier to study in mice than in people, and therefore more is known about the influence of genetics on diabetes in mice than in man. Researchers have already located genes that influence the development of diabetes outside the MHC. Researchers have now confirmed the location of another gene in mice that contributes to the development of diabetes. The location of genes among the chromosomes of mice is often determined by large cross-breeding experiments, in which the offspring of many different mouse pairs are analyzed. Using this method, it was found that a gene affecting type 1 diabetes is located on chromosome 1 of the mouse. (The mouse MHC is on chromosome 17.) The breeding experiments do not locate the gene precisely, but they do indicate the approximate location. Two genes that affect the immune system are in this approximate location, and are therefore good candidates to be the actual gene involved in diabetes. One of these genes is the gene for the receptor for interleukin-1, a substance that directly influences immune system cells. Less is known about the other candidate gene; this gene, called Lsh/Ity/Bcg, is known to determine resistance to some bacterial and parasitic infections. This gene also influences macrophages, important cells of the immune system. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1991
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Identification and mapping to chromosome 1 of a susceptibility locus for periinsulitis in non-obese diabetic mice
Article Abstract:
Diabetes occurs in two forms, insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent. Insulin-dependent diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, is now recognized as an autoimmune disorder. The cells of the patient's own immune system attack and destroy the insulin-producing cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. The events which precipitate this autoimmune attack are not known, but it is clear that some genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) seem to confer susceptibility to insulin-dependent diabetes in both humans and mice. Laboratory mice have been widely used in the study of diabetes, and the study of genetically diabetic mice has led to new findings for the role of genes in the development of diabetes. The MHC genes are located on chromosome 6 in man and on chromosome 17 in mice. Research on mice has now revealed that the genes affecting the development of diabetes are not limited to the MHC. Genes located on chromosomes 3 and 11 in the mouse have already been implicated. New findings implicate genes on chromosome 1 as well. The destruction of the insulin-producing cells by cells of the immune system, called insulitis, is preceded by a long period, which varies from mouse to mouse. In this preliminary period, called periinsulitis, the immune system cells have invaded the pancreas, but have not yet entered the islets of Langerhans. After many cross-breeding experiments in mice (which are impractical in humans), the researchers found that periinsulitis was under the control of a gene located on chromosome 1. These results suggest that each step in the series of pathological events that lead to insulin-dependent diabetes may be under the control of different genes. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1991
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Association of the T-cell regulatory gene CTLA4 with susceptibility to autoimmune disease
Article Abstract:
This article describes polymorphisms of the T lymphocyte antigen 4 gene responsible for autoimmune disorders such as Graves' disease, hypothyroidism, and type 1 diabetes. The disease susceptibility in humans maps to a non-coding 6.1 kilobase 3' region of the gene. Susceptibility to type 1 diabetes in mouse is associated with the gene.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2003
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