Type I Diabetes may be an Infectious, not Genetic, Disease

Type I diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, afflicts over 40,000 new children each year. It is characterized by pancreatic beta-islet cell autoimmunity, leading to a lack of insulin control by the pancreas. As a result, the signs and symptoms of diabetes arise, potentially including lack of control over body water, neuropathy, nephropathy, blindness, and dramatically increased risk of heart disease. A joint study published February 11, 2019, between Australian and American Universities made use of VirCapSeq-VERT (Virome-Capture-Sequencing for Vertebrate-infecting viruses) in order to determine the presence and size of the viral populations in fecal and plasma samples collected from patients with at least one relative with Type I Diabetes. This powerful sequencing technique is specific to vertebrate infecting viruses and confers a higher specificity and accuracy to this type of screen. In total, it was determined that Type I Diabetes patients (as opposed to controls) were more likely to have Enterovirus A infections. Not surprisingly, there was no significant differences in the blood viral load of these patients. These gender-matched, age-matched controls, however, were able to show that Enterovirus A infections were more common in those with Type 1 Diabetes in the stool (where these viral particles would be expected, and where they would most likely be found if they were infecting the pancreas) by up to 4 times. Individual viruses (like Enterovirus CVA2 and CVB3) were over tenfold more likely in a natural log fold analysis.

This research suggests that Type I Diabetes, thought by the public to be genetic and by science to have an unknown cause, may be the result of a pancreatic enteroviral infection. By making use of these powerful genomics techniques, the analysis of big data can continue to elucidate the causes of unknown diseases, many of which may source from viral infection.

~Kyle Enriquez

Sources:

Ki Wook Kim, Jessica L. Horton, Chi Nam Ignatius Pang, Komal Jain, Preston Leung, Sonia R. Isaacs, Rowena A. Bull, Fabio Luciani, Marc R. Wilkins, Jacki Catteau, W. Ian Lipkin, William D. Rawlinson, Thomas Briese, Maria E. Craig. Higher abundance of enterovirus A species in the gut of children with islet autoimmunity. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38368-8

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. (2019, February 20). Viruses that linger in gut could trigger type 1 diabetes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 20, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190220113754.htm