Chapter 7: Monogenic Forms of Diabetes
CHAPTER 7 MONOGENIC FORMS OF DIABETES Mark A. Sperling, MD, and Abhimanyu Garg, MD Dr. Mark A. Sperling is Emeritus Professor and Chair, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Abhimanyu Garg is Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. SUMMARY Types 1 and 2 diabetes have multiple and complex genetic influences that interact with environmental triggers, such as viral infections or nutritional excesses, to result in their respective phenotypes: young, lean, and insulin-dependence for type 1 diabetes patients or older, overweight, and often manageable by lifestyle interventions and oral medications for type 2 diabetes patients. A small subset of patients, comprising ~2%–3% of all those diagnosed with diabetes, may have characteristics of either type 1 or type 2 diabetes but have single gene defects that interfere with insulin production, secretion, or action, resulting in clinical diabetes. These types of diabetes are known as MODY, originally defined as maturity-onset diabetes of youth, and severe early-onset forms, such as neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM). Defects in genes involved in adipocyte development, differentiation, and death pathways cause lipodystrophy syndromes, which are also associated with insulin resistance and diabetes. Although these syndromes are considered rare, more awareness of these disorders and increased availability of genetic testing in clinical and research laboratories, as well as growing use of next generation, whole genome, or exome sequencing for clinically challenging phenotypes, are resulting in increased recognition. A correct diagnosis of MODY, NDM, or lipodystrophy syndromes has profound implications for treatment, genetic counseling, and prognosis.
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