Variations in two genes have been linked to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in mice and in humans.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks insulin-producing β-cells in the pancreas, whereas type 2 diabetes is caused by metabolic changes that make cells resistant to insulin. Adrian Liston of the University of Leuven in Belgium and his colleagues studied a mouse model of type 1 diabetes and found that variations in two genes, Xrcc4 and Glis3, promote diabetes. The variants made β-cells prone to programmed cell death and senescence.

Pancreatic cells taken from people with type 2 diabetes showed reduced expression of the GLIS3 protein compared to that in healthy cells. Expression of XRCC4 was normal, but levels of an important partner of this protein were reduced. The findings suggest a mechanistic link between the two forms of diabetes.

Nature Genet. http://doi.org/bdnd (2016)