Women with high levels of homocysteine ( a biochemical molecule) during pregnancy deliver children with low birth weight, but are obese and insulin resistant- the two important risk factors for development of diabetes, scientists from CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have found in a 20-year-long study.
Homocysteine, considered as a risk factor for different conditions like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, is generated from body’s metabolism.
Giving details of this study and another research paper at a press conference here on Tuesday, CCMB Director Ch. Mohan Rao said that India was known as ‘Diabetes Capital of World’ with every fifth Indian suffering from type 2 diabetes (T2D). Although several genes were linked to T2D, together they explain only 10-12 per cent of the risk of diabetes.
With both low and heavy birth weight babies facing an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, scientists at CCMB in association with KEM Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, have looked into genetic factors responsible for high levels of homocysteine during pregnancy. They found that a genetic mutation increased the biochemical molecule’s levels leading to children with low birth weight, thereby increasing the risk of diabetes in them.
Dr. Chandak said that 20 per cent people in India have the genetic variant. He said that giving B12 along with folate would reduce its concentration levels and bring about a balance in its metabolic activities. However, In India, pregnant women have adequate folate due to vegetarian food and supplements, but not sufficient B 12 due to low intake of non-vegetarian food.
In another study involving fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, CCMB scientists led by Dr. Rakesh Mishra, have thrown new insight into body axis formation and diversity in animals. While homeotic or homeo box containing (Hox ) genes contain the blueprint of the body plan and are mainly responsible for anterior-posterior body formation, the scientists found that the genes also played a role in cell growth promotion. This discovery of their growth promoting role explains why in some human cancers hox genes are incorrectly expressed.
These findings also bring in hox genes as factors among potential drug targets for disease conditions like cancer, a CCMB release said.
