 |
|
|
John Mordes, MD |
Researchers at UMass Medical School are working to identify new genetic insights into the basis of type 1 diabetes, thanks to a $575,000 grant from the American Diabetes Association.
John P. Mordes, MD, professor of medicine, has assembled a team of investigators to translate their earlier animal genetics work to humans and the human genome.
“Recent research has shown that one specific T cell receptor (TCR) gene is critical to type 1 diabetes in rats,” Dr. Mordes said. “Knowing if comparable TCR genes confer HLA-specific susceptibility to type 1 diabetes will make genomic prediction of type 1 diabetes much more accurate.”
Mordes’ early study of the immunology of juvenile diabetes led him to become more intrigued by the genetics of this autoimmune disease, leading to studies he has focused exclusively on for 20 years in close collaboration with Elizabeth Blankenhorn, PhD, professor of microbiology & immunology at Drexel University College of Medicine.
To complete the next phase of his research, which will involve advanced DNA sequencing of more 600 diabetic and 1,200 non-diabetic individuals, Mordes has assembled a team of investigators, including Jeffrey A. Bailey, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, and postdoctoral fellow Özkan Aydemir, PhD, of UMMS.
Mordes said they will be using state-of-the-art methodology developed, in part, by Dr. Bailey called molecular inversion probes to attempt to identify human genes comparable to those that he has studied in the animal models.
“It was a natural collaboration . . . something we’ve been working on for a long time,” said Bailey, adding that he is grateful for the grant to help fund the research that involves complex genetics and regions of the genome that are usually ignored.
“The work he and Dr. Blankenhorn have done is really phenomenal,” Bailey said. “It could lead to a treatment, whereby if you could knock out the specific T cells you could really stop the disease.”
To complete the study, the team requires DNA samples from people with and without type 1 diabetes. Two researchers will supply the human DNA samples: Janelle A. Noble, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute, and Åke Lernmark, PhD, of Lund University in Sweden.
“With these samples, we hope to provide new genetic insights into the fundamental basis of type 1 diabetes,” Mordes said.
