[An open letter to the Scientific Research Committee].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Nerup.
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To assess the offspring IDDM recurrence risk in a Danish population-based study and to investigate parental and offspring related biological variables that might influence this risk, we identified 2726 IDDM probands and their 2826 offspring from a background population of 1.725 million people (33% of the Danish population). Proband current age was 20-60 years and age at IDDM onset was 30 years or less. Offspring data were obtained by a questionnaire. The cumulative IDDM risk up to age 30 years was found significantly decreased in maternal offspring compared to paternal offspring (2.3 +/- 0.6% and 5.7 +/- 0.9%, RR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.30-4.47; Mantel Cox: p = 0.004) only if parents were diagnosed with IDDM before offspring birth. However, due to a low number of diabetic offspring of probands diagnosed with IDDM after offspring birth, this observation need to be confirmed in a larger population. Using the Cox proportional hazards model we found that among several biological variables tested separately on offspring of male and female probands, all diagnosed with IDDM before pregnancy, paternal age at IDDM onset was the only statistically significant predictor of IDDM risk in offspring. Our findings may be important for counselling families in which one parent has IDDM.
The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex, encompassing 3.5 Mb of DNA from the centromeric HLA-DPB2 locus to the telomeric HLA-F locus on chromosome 6p21, encodes a major part of the genetic predisposition to develop type 1 diabetes, designated "IDDM1." A primary role for allelic variation of the class II HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1, and HLA-DQB1 loci has been established. However, studies of animals and humans have indicated that other, unmapped, major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-linked genes are participating in IDDM1. The strong linkage disequilibrium between genes in this complex makes mapping a difficult task. In the present paper, we report on the approach we have devised to circumvent the confounding effects of disequilibrium between class II alleles and alleles at other MHC loci. We have scanned 12 Mb of the MHC and flanking chromosome regions with microsatellite polymorphisms and analyzed the transmission of these marker alleles to diabetic probands from parents who were homozygous for the alleles of the HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1, and HLA-DQB1 genes. Our analysis, using three independent family sets, suggests the presence of an additional type I diabetes gene (or genes). This approach is useful for the analysis of other loci linked to common diseases, to verify if a candidate polymorphism can explain all of the association of a region or if the association is due to two or more loci in linkage disequilibrium with each other.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate kidney function 7 years after the end of treatment with cyclosporine A (CsA) (initial dosage of 9.3 tapered off to 7.0 mg.kg-1.day-1) in young patients (mean age 20 years) with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes participating in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled CsA trial. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In this study, 21 patients received CsA for 12.5 +/- 4.0 months (mean +/- SD) and 19 patients received placebo for 14.4 +/- 3.8 months. The two groups were similar with regard to mean arterial blood pressure (BP), urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), serum creatinine, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR [Cockcroft and Gault]) at initiation of CsA treatment (baseline). HbA1c (mean +/- SEM) during 7 years of follow-up was also the same: 8.7 +/- 0.4 vs. 8.3 +/- 0.4% in the CsA and placebo groups, respectively. RESULTS: During the 7 years after cessation of study medication, two CsA group patients and one control patient were lost to follow-up. One placebo-treated patient developed IgA nephropathy (biopsy proven) and was excluded. Four CsA-treated patients developed persistently elevated UAER > 30 mg/24 h (n = 3 with microalbuminuria), whereas all the 17 placebo-treated patients had normal UAER (< 30 mg/24 h) after 7 years of follow-up. At the end of follow-up, the CsA group had a more pronounced rise in UAER: 2.5-fold (95% CI 1.4-4.5) higher than baseline value vs. 1.1-fold (0.7-1.7) in the placebo-treated group (P < 0.05). Estimated GFR (ml.min-1.1.73 m-2) declined from baseline to end of follow-up (1994) by 6.3 +/- 6.0 in the former CsA group, whereas it rose by 7.4 +/- 5.0 in the placebo group (P = 0.05). In 1994, 24-h blood pressure was nearly the same: 131/77 +/- 4/2 vs. 127/75 +/- 2/2 mmHg (NS) in the CsA and placebo groups, respectively. Five randomly selected CsA-treated patients had a kidney biopsy performed shortly after the CsA treatment was stopped. Interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy and/or arteriolopathy were present in two subjects who both subsequently developed persistent microalbuminuria. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our 7-year follow-up study suggested that short-lasting CsA treatment in young, newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic patients accelerated the rate of progression in UAER and tended to induce a loss in kidney function. Longer term follow-up is mandatory to clarify whether CsA-treated patients are at increased risk of developing clinical nephropathy.
Graves' disease and nodular toxic goitre are known to occur with increased frequency in patients with diabetes mellitus. It may be difficult to distinguish the symptoms of the two conditions from each other at the onset of diabetes. Thyrotoxic crisis is an uncommon, but extreme accentuation of thyrotoxicosis with a high mortality even in patients undergoing correct treatment. Reports on "major adverse life events" precipitating either diabetes or thyrotoxicosis are known. The symptoms of thyrotoxic disease in the elderly are often vague with few symptomatic manifestations. Five cases with simultaneous onset of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and thyrotoxicosis are presented: one in an adult patient with manifestations of thyrotoxic crisis, one in early adolescence, two in elderly patients with multinodular goitre and Graves' disease respectively, and finally in a younger IDDM patient thyrotoxicosis had initially been overlooked. The five cases leading to the suggestion that screening for hyperthyroidism in IDDM-patients by measuring TSH should be considered at the onset of diabetes and in dysregulated diabetic patients.
It has previously been observed that offspring of mothers with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have a lower risk of IDDM than offspring of IDDM affected fathers. To assess the offspring IDDM recurrence risk in a Danish population-based study and to investigate parental and offspring-related biological variables that might influence this risk, we identified 2726 IDDM probands and their 2826 offspring from a background population of 1.725 million people (33% of the Danish population). Current age of probands was 20-65 years and their age at IDDM onset was 30 years or less. Sixty-nine offspring (2.4%) were affected with IDDM. The sex difference in the parental-offspring IDDM transmission rate was confirmed. The cumulative IDDM risk up to age 30 years was found to be significantly decreased in maternal offspring compared to paternal offspring (2.3 +/- 0.6 and 5.7 +/- 0.9 %, RR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.30-4.47; p = 0.004) only if parents were diagnosed with IDDM before birth of the offspring. However, due to the low number of diabetic offspring of probands diagnosed with IDDM after offspring birth, this observation needs to be confirmed in a larger population. In a subpopulation of the 2380 offspring, whose parents were all diagnosed with IDDM before offspring birth, the recurrence risk was significantly increased in offspring of male probands diagnosed up to age 17 years compared to offspring of fathers diagnosed at older ages (8.5 +/- 1.8 and 3.6 +/- 1.0%; RR = 2.27, 95% CI 1.21-4.25; p = 0.006). No such relation was found in maternal offspring. Using the Cox proportional hazards model on this offspring subpopulation we found that paternal age at IDDM onset was the only statistically significant predictor of IDDM recurrence risk. Our findings may be important for counselling families in which one parent has IDDM.
Mutations in the hepatocyte nuclear factor-1alpha (HNF-1alpha) gene are the cause of maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 3 (MODY3), which is characterised by a severe impairment of insulin secretion and an early onset of the disease. Also at onset of diabetes some MODY patients show similar clinical symptoms and signs as patients with Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of MODY3 patients misclassified as Type I diabetic patients. From a large population-based sample of unrelated Danish Caucasian Type I diabetic patients with an affected first degree relative, 39 patients (6.7%) who did not carry any high-risk HLA-haplotypes, i.e. DR3 or DR4 or both were examined by single-strand conformational polymorphism scanning and direct sequencing of the coding region and the minimal promoter of the HNF-1alpha gene. Four of the 39 Type I diabetic patients (10%) were identified as carrying mutations in the HNF-1alpha gene. One patient carried a missense mutation (Glu48Lys) in exon 1, two patients carried a missense mutation (Cys241Gly) in exon 4 and one patient carried a frameshift mutation (Pro291fsdelA) in exon 4. The mutations were all identified in heterozygous form, segregated with diabetes, and were not identified in 84 unrelated, healthy subjects. Furthermore, family history in three of the four families showed diabetes in four consecutive generations, suggestive of an autosomal dominant inheritance. In conclusion, about 10% of Danish diabetic patients without a high-risk HLA-haplotype, originally classified as having Type I diabetes could have diabetes caused by mutations in the HNF-1alpha gene. Clinical awareness of family history of diabetes and mode of inheritance might help to identify and reclassify these diabetic subjects as MODY3 patients.
Genomewide linkage studies of type 1 diabetes (or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM]) indicate that several unlinked susceptibility loci can explain the clustering of the disease in families. One such locus has been mapped to chromosome 11q13 (IDDM4). In the present report we have analyzed 707 affected sib pairs, obtaining a peak multipoint maximum LOD score (MLS) of 2.7 (lambda(s)=1.09) with linkage (MLS>=0.7) extending over a 15-cM region. The problem is, therefore, to fine map the locus to permit structural analysis of positional candidate genes. In a two-stage approach, we first scanned the 15-cM linked region for increased or decreased transmission, from heterozygous parents to affected siblings in 340 families, of the three most common alleles of each of 12 microsatellite loci. One of the 36 alleles showed decreased transmission (50% expected, 45.1% observed [P=.02, corrected P=.72]) at marker D11S1917. Analysis of an additional 1,702 families provided further support for negative transmission (48%) of D11S1917 allele 3 to affected offspring and positive transmission (55%) to unaffected siblings (test of heterogeneity P=3x10-4, corrected P=. 01]). A second polymorphic marker, H0570polyA, was isolated from a cosmid clone containing D11S1917, and genotyping of 2,042 families revealed strong linkage disequilibrium between the two markers (15 kb apart), with a specific haplotype, D11S1917*03-H0570polyA*02, showing decreased transmission (46.4%) to affected offspring and increased transmission (56.6%) to unaffected siblings (test of heterogeneity P=1.5x10-6, corrected P=4.3x10-4). These results not only provide sufficient justification for analysis of the gene content of the D11S1917 region for positional candidates but also show that, in the mapping of genes for common multifactorial diseases, analysis of both affected and unaffected siblings is of value and that both predisposing and nonpredisposing alleles should be anticipated.
Allelic association methods based on increased transmission of marker alleles will have to be employed for the mapping of complex disease susceptibility genes. However, because the extent of association of single marker alleles with disease is a function of the relative frequency of the allele on disease-associated chromosomes versus non disease-predisposing chromosomes, the most associated marker allele in a region will not necessarily be closest to the disease locus. To overcome this problem we describe a haplotype-based approach developed for mapping of the putative type 1 diabetes susceptibility gene IDDM6. Ten microsatellite markers spanning a 550 kb segment of chromosome 18q21 in the putative IDDM6 region were genotyped in 1708 type 1 diabetic Caucasian families from seven countries. The most likely ancestral diabetogenic chromosome was reconstructed in a stepwise fashion by analysing linkage disequilibrium between a previously defined haplotype of three adjacent markers and the next marker along the chromosome. A plot of transmission from heterozygous parents to affected offspring of single marker alleles present on the ancestral chromosome versus the physical distance between them, was compared with a plot of transmission of haplotypes of groups of three adjacent markers. Analysing transmission of haplotypes largely negated apparent decreases in transmission of single marker alleles. Peak support for association of the D18S487 region with IDDM6 is P = 0.0002 (corrected P = 0.01). The results also demonstrate the utility of polymorphic microsatellite markers to trace and delineate extended and presumably ancient haplotypes in the analysis of common disease and in the search for identical-by-descent chromosome regions that carry an aetiological variant.
PCR assays were established for easy and fast analysis of two transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) gene mutations, a C to T transition at position 76 in exon 5 resulting in a change from threonine to isoleucine in position 263 (Thr263Ile) of the propeptide and a deletion of a C in the intron sequence eight bases prior to exon 5 (713-8delC). These mutations were evaluated in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients (n = 137) and control subjects (n = 105) and in IDDM patients with (n = 170) and without (n = 99) nephropathy. After evaluating intra- and interindividual variation in TGF-beta1 expression levels, the TGF-beta1 mRNA level in phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate-stimulated (1 ng/ml) lymphocytes from individuals with different TGF-beta1 genotypes was also studied. No association of the two TGF-beta1 sequence variations with IDDM in general was found. However, a weak but significant association of the Thr263Ile mutation with diabetic nephropathy was found (P = 0.03). No correlation between TGF-beta1 transcription level and genotype of any of the two studied polymorphisms was found. However, significant interindividual differences in TGF-beta1 mRNA levels were observed between the tested individuals (P < 0.0001) compatible with a genetic control mechanism of TGF-beta1 synthesis at the mRNA level.
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During development of IDDM mononuclear cell infiltration is seen in the islets of Langerhans in both man and rodent models. This process is not synchronized in time and space. To create a synchronized model for investigation of the cellular and molecular events during IDDM development, we isolated and transplanted 200 neonatal BB-DP rat islets under the kidney capsule of 30 day old BB-DP rats. Islet transplantations were also carried out from Wistar Furth (WF) to WF rats, from WF to Wistar Kyoto (WK) rats and from WK to BB-DP rats to compare disease occurrence in an islet syngraft with changes in islet syngrafts or allografts in non-diabetes prone recipients and with changes in islet allografts in diabetes prone recipients, respectively. Pancreata and grafts were harvested at pre-scheduled time points before onset of diabetes and at onset of diabetes, and stained for insulin, MHC class I, MHC class II, alphabeta-TCR, CD4, CD8 or ED1. Diabetes incidence in the syngrafted BB-DP rats was 75% at 78 +/- 5 days of age. The incidence and time of onset of IDDM was unaffected by islet syngrafting. Positive correlations were found between the percentage of infiltrated islets in situ and the number of infiltrating cells in the islet syngraft from the same BB-DP rats (p = 0.003-p < 0.0001, r = 0.5-0.7). The number of infiltrating cells regardless of cell type in the graft was inversely correlated to the graft insulin content (p = 0.0003-p < 0.0000, r = -0.6 to -0.8). The graft insulin content was 70% and 90% in BB-DP rats before onset of diabetes and BB-DP rats not developing diabetes respectively, and 30% in the diabetic rats (p < 0.01). Interestingly only 5% of the allografted BB-DP rats developed diabetes. No correlation was found between the number of infiltrating cells in the graft and islets in situ in the BB-DP rats not developing diabetes. Only baseline infiltration was seen in grafts from syngrafted WF rats. In allografted WF islet to WK rats graft rejection was seen 12 days after transplantation. No correlation was found between the number of infiltrating cells in the graft and islets in situ. In conclusion the cellular infiltration in syngeneic but not allogeneic islets grafted to 30 day old BB-rats mirrors that seen in islets in situ. Syngeneic islet grafting in BB-DP rats may be useful for studying the cellular and molecular events during the development of IDDM.
Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is caused by an autoimmune destruction of the beta-cells in the islets of Langerhans. The cytokine interleukin 1 inhibits insulin release and is selectively cytotoxic to beta-cells in isolated pancreatic rat islets. The antigen(s) triggering the immune response as well as the intracellular mechanisms of action of interleukin 1-mediated beta-cell cytotoxicity are unknown. However, previous studies have found an association of beta-cell destruction with alterations in protein synthesis. Thus, two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis of pancreatic islet proteins may be an important tool facilitating studies of the molecular pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. 2-D gel electrophoresis of islet proteins may lead to (i) the determination of qualitative and quantitative changes in specific islet proteins induced by cytokines, (ii) the determination of the effects of agents modulating cytokine action, and (iii) the identification of primary islet protein antigen(s) initiating the immune destruction of the beta-cells. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create databases (DB) of all reproducibly detectable protein spots on 10% and 15% acrylamide 2-D gels of neonatal rat islets (10% and 15% DB), labeled under standardized culture conditions. 1235 and 557 spots were present in 5 of 5 gels in the 15% isoelectric focusing (IEF) and nonequilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis (NEPHGE) DB, respectively, whereas 995 and 378 spots were present in 5 of 5 gels in the 10% IEF and NEPHGE DB, respectively, yielding a reproducibility of spot detection between 75.2% and 91.7%. In both DBs, the average coefficient of variation of the percentage of integrated optical density (CV% of %IOD) for spots present in all gels was between 42.4% and 45.7%. When the same sample was analyzed in consecutive sets of gels on different days (interassay analysis), the average CV% of %IOD was 35.5%-36.1%. When the same sample was analyzed repeatedly in one set of gels (intra-assay analysis), the average CV% of %IOD was 30.2% in the IEF gels, while the average CV% of %IOD was 45.7% in the NEPHGE gels. Addition of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) to the cultures resulted in statistically significant modulation or de novo synthesis of 105 proteins in the 10% gels. In conclusion, we present the first 10% and 15% acrylamide 2-D gel protein databases of neonatal rat islets of Langerhans and demonstrate its usage to identify proteins altered in expression by IL-1beta.
The deleterious effects of interleukin 1 (IL-1) on insulin-producing beta-cells are partly mediated by the generation of the free radical nitric oxide (NO). We aimed to assess the effect of several steroidal hormones on IL-1beta-induced inhibition of rat islet insulin secretion in vitro, and their possible regulatory effects on NO production. Incubation of newborn rat islets for 24 h in the presence of 150 pg/ml IL-1beta revealed that dexamethasone dose-dependently attenuated the inhibitory effect of IL-1beta on insulin release in response to a 2-h glucose challenge. Physiological and supraphysiological concentrations of testosterone, 17beta-estradiol, progesterone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 and vitamin D analogues (KH1060 and MC1288) were ineffective. Dexamethasone (1 microM) increased the production of NO in IL-1beta-treated rat islets, as measured by the concentration of nitrite in the media. However, 1-5 microM dexamethasone inhibited IL-1beta-induced NO production by RIN cells. Dexamethasone (1 microM) did not affect the inhibitory action of the NO donor S-nitroso penicillamine (500 microM) on rat islet insulin secretion. We conclude that dexamethasone partially protects against IL-1beta-induced inhibition of rat islet insulin secretion, an effect which is not mediated through modulation of the NO pathway.
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The IDDM2 type 1 diabetes susceptibility locus was mapped to and identified as allelic variation at the insulin gene (INS) VNTR regulatory polymorphism. In Caucasians, INS VNTR alleles divide into two discrete size classes. Class I alleles (26 to 63 repeats) predispose in a recessive way to type 1 diabetes, while class III alleles (140 to more than 200 repeats) are dominantly protective. The protective effect may be explained by higher levels of class III VNTR-associated INS mRNA in thymus such that elevated levels of preproinsulin protein enhance immune tolerance to preproinsulin, a key autoantigen in type 1 diabetes pathogenesis. The mode of action of IDDM2 is complicated, however, by parent-of-origin effects and possible allelic heterogeneity within the two defined allele classes. We have now analysed transmission of specific VNTR alleles in 1,316 families and demonstrate that a particular class I allele does not predispose to disease when paternally inherited, suggestive of polymorphic imprinting. But this paternal effect is observed only when the father's untransmitted allele is a class III. This allelic interaction is reminiscent of epigenetic phenomena observed in plants (for example, paramutation; ref. 17) and in yeast (for example, trans-inactivation; ref. 18). If untransmitted chromosomes can have functional effects on the biological properties of transmitted chromosomes, the implications for human genetics and disease are potentially considerable.
Nitric oxide is a potent mediator of the cytokine-induced cytotoxic effect on pancreatic beta cells. It has been shown that the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is induced in islets of Langerhans by interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta). Interferon regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1), a transcriptional factor known to play an essential role in the induction of the inducible nitric oxide synthase, has also been shown to be induced by IL-1 beta in isolated islets of Langerhans. In the present study we analysed a GT nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the intron 7 of the IRF-1 gene. We typed 123 Danish Caucasian insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) multiplex families (550 individuals including 271 diabetic patients) and 108 control subjects of Danish Caucasian origin. In total, seven alleles were identified. No significant differences in either allele or genotype distribution were found comparing IDDM patients with control subjects (P = 0.7 and P = 0.5, respectively). An extended transmission disequilibrium test (ETDT) did not reveal transmission disequilibrium in an allele-wise manner. A 16-nucleotide deletion was found when sequencing the region containing the polymorphic GT repeat. This new deletion was in linkage disequilibrium with the GT-repeat polymorphism, as it was only seen with alleles of more than 13 GT tandem repeats. No association with IDDM for the deletion was observed. Furthermore, three single base substitutions linked to the 16 nucleotide deletion were identified. Even though we could not associate the GT-repeat polymorphism to IDDM in this study, additional mutation screening is warranted, as we still think the IRF-1 gene is a potential candidate gene for IDDM.