Napatawn Banchuin

Mutations of maturity‐onset diabetes of the young (MODY) genes in Thais with early‐onset type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective  Six known genes responsible for maturity‐onset diabetes of the young (MODY) were analysed to evaluate the prevalence of their mutations in Thai patients with MODY and early‐onset type 2 diabetes.

Cell-mediated immune responses to GAD and β-casein in type 1 diabetes mellitus in Thailand

We measured the cell-mediated immune response to GAD and bovine beta-casein in 38 type 1 and 37 type 2 diabetic patients who visited diabetic clinics or who were hospitalized in Bangkok, Thailand, and in 43 normal controls, by using a lymphoproliferation assay. Positive results against GAD were found in 29/38 (76.3%) type 1, 6/37 (16.2%) type 2 diabetic patients and 1/43 (2.3%) normal controls. Positive results against bovine beta-casein were found in 18/38 (47.4%), 5/37 (13.5%) and 1/43 (2.3%) of these subjects, respectively. The frequencies of the positive results and the magnitude of the responses to both antigens in type 1 diabetic patients were significantly higher than those in the other two groups (P<0.001). In addition, the prevalence of a positive lymphoproliferative response to these antigens in type 1 diabetic patients was higher than that of anti-GAD antibody positivity in the same group of subjects (26.3%). Thus, the prevalence of positive lymphoproliferative response to GAD in type 1 diabetic patients studied was higher than the prevalence of other autoimmune markers previously reported in type 1 diabetic patients in Thailand.

No abnormalities of reg1α and reg1β gene associated with diabetes mellitus

Abstract In order to investigate whether there would be any association between abnormalities of either reg1α or reg1β gene and diabetes mellitus in man, these two genes were analyzed in 42 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, 12 with fibrocalculous pancreatopathy, 37 with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 22 normal controls, by PCR-SSCP analysis and nucleotide sequencing technique. Polymorphism in the reg1α gene resulted in three mobility patterns in the PCR-SSCP analysis, due to nucleotide constituents at position −10 before exon 1 being either C/C, T/C or T/T. These three mobility patterns were observed in every group of subjects. The analysis of reg1β gene showed nucleotide substitutions in exon 4 in one patient, exon 5 in another patient with type 1 diabetes, and in exon 4 and intron 5 in one patient with fibrocalculous pancreatopathy. The nucleotide substitutions in exon 4 in the patient with type 1 diabetes and that with fibrocalculous pancreatopathy occurred at codons 103 and 84 while that in exon 5 in the patient with type 1 diabetes occurred at codon 141, changing the codons from CAT to CAC, GTG to GCG, and ACT to AAT and resulting in H103H silent, V84A and T141N missense mutations, respectively. In conclusion, using PCR-SSCP and nucleotide sequence analyses, we did not find any association between abnormalities of either reg1α or reg1β gene with any type of diabetes studied.

Functional defect of truncated hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (G554fsX556) associated with maturity-onset diabetes of the young

A novel frameshift mutation attributable to 14-nucleotide insertion in hepatocyte nuclear factor-1alpha (HNF-1alpha) encoding a truncated HNF-1alpha (G554fsX556) with 76-amino acid deletion at its carboxyl terminus was identified in a Thai family with maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY). The wild-type and mutant HNF-1alpha proteins were expressed by in vitro transcription and translation (TNT) assay and by transfection in HeLa cells. The wild-type and mutant HNF-1alpha could similarly bind to human glucose-transporter 2 (GLUT2) promoter examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). However, the transactivation activities of mutant HNF-1alpha on human GLUT2 and rat L-type pyruvate kinase (L-PK) promoters in HeLa cells determined by luciferase reporter assay were reduced to approximately 55-60% of the wild-type protein. These results suggested that the functional defect of novel truncated HNF-1alpha (G554fsX556) on the transactivation of its target-gene promoters would account for the beta-cell dysfunction associated with the pathogenesis of MODY.