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Poor environmental conditions can trigger diabetes
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Scientists have stated that epigenetics and ecology may trigger the development of type 1 diabetes. According to experts, the new data will help explain why the number of people with diabetes has increased sharply in recent years.
About a tenth of all patients with diabetes are carriers of the rarest type of the disease (the first). In this case, the disease occurs not as a result of metabolic disorders, but due to the destruction of pancreatic cells that produce insulin. With type 1 diabetes, the pancreatic cells begin to attack the person's own immunity and, according to WHO, more than 100 thousand people die from this type of diabetes every year in the world.
There are approximately 30 million people suffering from this type of diabetes in the world and now the disease is becoming more widespread and scientists do not know how to stop the disease. Patients with type 1 need systematic insulin injections.
Specialists from the University of Cambridge have found that in recent years the number of patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 has increased sharply and scientists are sure that the development of the disease is associated not only with heredity. According to the assumption of biologists, one of the factors provoking the disease may be ecology. The ecological situation in the region may be reflected in the protein shell of genes.
The specialists examined identical twins, one of whom was a carrier of type 1 diabetes. The scientists did not find any changes in DNA, but there were disturbances in the protein shell, which caused the activity of many genes to change. The researchers noted that such activity often causes the development of oncological diseases.
It has always been accepted that type 1 diabetes is a hereditary disease, but in ecologically polluted areas there are high rates of insulin-dependent diabetes. Until now, scientists have not been able to figure out why the immune system begins to attack pancreatic cells and what mechanism changes the DNA shell in diabetes, but some success in finding drugs has been achieved. At the University of Melbourne, a group of scientists studied the venom of a sea snail and found out that insulin obtained from it can regulate blood glucose levels; while scientists conducted research on fish, it is possible that the same mechanism will be found in humans. Insulin from the venom of a sea snail has an unusual three-dimensional structure and experts are confident that it will be possible to develop an artificial version of the pancreatic hormone suitable for humans. Unlike the insulin that exists today, artificial insulin will work immediately after administration (modern drugs require 15-20 minutes). Scientists believe that insulin from sea snail venom is suitable for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics, as well as pregnant women with gestational diabetes.
The scientists plan to continue studying the sea snail's venom, as they are confident that this will significantly advance the search for new drugs and methods of treating diabetes.
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