GENETICS OF INSULIN RESISTANCE AND TYPE DIABETES: ROLE OF INSULING SIGNALING INHIBITORS

The Insulin Resistance Syndrome (IRS), which is the reduced activity of insulin on its target tissues, is the most important cause of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). It imposes therefore a tremendous burden to health care systems. Recently, thanks to a previous Telethon grant (E1239), we have demonstrated that genetics variations affecting the expression (i.e. in the regulatory regions) of genes encoding for inhibitors of insulin action may cause insulin resistance. Because of these results we believe worthy to study also the coding regions of these genes (PTP1B, LAR and Grb10) which accounts for the protein structure and function. The identification of genetics and molecular causes of IRS may help search for pharmaceutical tools to be tailored to specific forms of the IRS and T2D.