by Playfuls Staff |
12th February 2007
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG
said it has mapped the genome of a large group of type-2
diabetes patients, enabling scientists to better search for the
genes causing the disease. [more]
The company, working together with the Lund University and
The Broad Institute scientific centers, said on Monday it has
mapped all genes of a group of patients and compared them with
those of healthy individuals.
"Canvassing the entire genome ... will allow scientists to
gain novel insights into the disease's genetic underpinnings --
information that could potentially lead to the development of
new, more effective therapies," Novartis said.
The news comes as researchers over the weekend said they
had homed in on five areas of DNA that could account for 70
percent of the genetic risk for type-2 diabetes, identifying
four different areas of genetic variation conferring risk.
The scientists also confirmed that a fifth area was
associated with the disease. Type-2 diabetes affects more than
170 million people world-wide, Novartis said.
Novartis said all results of its analysis are being made
accessible free of charge on the Internet to scientists. The
work was the result of a public-private collaboration known as
the Diabetes Genetics Initiative.
Type-2 or adult onset diabetes is becoming more and more
common around the world and is even being found now in
children. It is associated with a rich diet and a lack of
exercise.
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