Category: Donald W. Bowden

Scientists ID diabetes gene

October 25, 2004

A gene involved in the action of insulin is associated with type 2 diabetes and the body's response to insulin, scientists report. The gene is called PTPN1 (Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase N1) and is found on the human chromosome 20, which has long been targeted by investigators as a likely site for diabetes genes. ''The protein that this gene makes represses the insulin response, so if you are making a lot of this protein, your ability to respond to insulin would be blunted, which would lead to higher glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. If it is too high, that's diabetes.''