Genetic mutations causing an inherited form of the metabolic syndrome have been found, with implications for drug development across diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
A substitution error in the gene DYRK1B tracked exactly with early-onset coronary artery disease, abdominal obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes running in three large families in Iran, Arya Mani, MD, of Yale, and colleagues found.
A second substitution mutation in the same gene was found in affected, but not unaffected, members in a fourth family of a different ethnic background, the group reported in the May 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The specific mutations found are likely rare, but genome-wide association studies have also linked DYRK1B to type 2 diabetes and traits associated with the metabolic syndrome, which may implicate common variants in the general population, the group noted.
Read the full, original story: Metabolic Syndrome: Genetic Trigger?