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HKDC1, BACE2 could predict gestational diabetes before pregnancy
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Data collected from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Study have led researchers to identify variants in two novel genes which they said are associated with measures of glucose and insulin levels among pregnant women.
“With additional study and verification of these and other risk genes, we could one day have genetic risk profiles to identify individuals at elevated risk for developing gestational diabetes,” M. Geoffrey Hayes, PhD, from the division of endocrinology, metabolism, and molecular medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release.
M. Geoffrey Hayes
Hayes and colleagues conducted a discovery genome-wide association study in a large cohort of pregnant mothers from various ancestries from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Study (n=4,437). The women were administered an oral glucose tolerance test at approximately 28 weeks gestation to determine genetic loci linked to measures of maternal metabolism, researchers wrote.
The researchers identified two novel genome-wide significant associations in glucose metabolism and HKDC1 and insulin secretion and BACE2 within two genes. Researchers wrote that these data suggest the genes’ underlying roles could play a significant role in hypoglycemia during pregnancy compared with women who are not pregnant.
“Together with the results of earlier studies, our findings suggest that the roles of HKDC1 in glucose metabolism and BACE2 in insulin secretion are more important during pregnancy than in the nongravid state,” researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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