Study: Ethnic diversity helps identify more genomic regions linked to diabetes

New findings published in the journal Nature Genetics demonstrate that expanding research into different ancestries yields more and better results linked to type 2 diabetes-related traits and ultimately benefiting global patient care

By including multi-ethnic participants, a large scale genetic study by the University of Exeter has identified more regions of the genome linked to type 2 diabetes-related traits than if the research had been conducted in Europe alone.

Study: Ethnic diversity helps identify more genomic regions linked to diabetes(Twitter/StudiesBiotech)

New findings published in the journal Nature Genetics demonstrate that expanding research into different ancestries yields more and better results and ultimately benefiting global patient care.

The international MAGIC collaboration, made up of more than 400 global academics, conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis led by the University of Exeter.

Up to now, nearly 87 per cent of genomic research of this type has been conducted in Europe. This means that the way these findings are implemented may not optimally benefit people from non-European ancestries.

The team analysed data across a wide range of cohorts, encompassing more than 280,000 people without diabetes. Researchers looked at glycemic traits used to diagnose diabetes and monitor sugar and insulin levels in the blood.

The researchers incorporated 30 per cent of the overall cohort with individuals of East Asian, Hispanic, African-American, South Asian and sub-Saharan African origin. By doing so, they discovered 24 more loci -- or regions of the genome -linked to glycaemic traits than if they had researched Europeans alone.

Professor Ines Barroso, of the University of Exeter, who led the research, said, "Type 2 diabetes is an increasingly huge global health challenge- with most of the biggest increases occurring outside of Europe."

While there are a lot of shared genetic factors between different countries and cultures, our research tells us that they do differ, in ways that we need to understand. It's critical to ensuring we can deliver a precision diabetes medicine approach that optimises treatment and care for everyone," Barroso added.

First author Dr Ji Chen, of the University of Exeter, said, "We discovered 24 additional regions of the genome by including cohorts which were more ethnically diverse than we would have done if we'd restricted our work to Europeans. Beyond the moral arguments for ensuring research is reflective of global populations, our work demonstrates that this approach generates better results."

The team found that though some loci were not detected in all ancestries, they were still useful to capture information about the glycaemic trait in that ancestry.

Co-author Cassandra Spracklen, Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, said, "Our findings matter because we're moving towards using genetic scores to weigh up a person's risk of diabetes. We know that scores developed exclusively in individuals of one ancestry don't work well in people of different ancestry. This is important as increasingly healthcare is moving towards a more precise approach. Failing to account for genetic variation according to ancestry will impact our ability to accurately diagnose diabetes."

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