St. Bennett et al., SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HUMAN TYPE-1 DIABETES AT IDDM2 IS DETERMINED BY TANDEM REPEAT VARIATION AT THE INSULIN GENE MINISATELLITE LOCUS, Nature genetics, 9(3), 1995, pp. 284-292
The IDDM2 locus encoding susceptibility to type 1 diabetes was mapped
previously to a 4.1-kb region spanning the insulin gene and a minisate
llite or variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) locus on human chrom
osome 11p15.5. By 'cross-match' haplotype analysis and linkage disequi
librium mapping, we have mapped the mutation IDDM2 to within the VNTR
itself. Other polymorphisms were systematically excluded as primary di
sease determinants. Transmission of IDDM2 may be influenced by parent-
of-origin phenomena. Although we show that the insulin gene is express
ed biallelically in the adult pancreas, we present preliminary evidenc
e that the level of transcription in vivo is correlated with allelic v
ariation within the VNTR. Allelic variation at VNTRs may play an impor
tant general role in human disease.